WADE, RICHARD M. (b. May 11, 1816, Campbell Co., Va.; d. February 19, 1878, Covington, Ky.).
Richard Marshall Wade, a steamboat captain in
the commercial trade between Cincinnati and
New Orleans, was the son of Edmund and Mildred
Marshall Wade and a great-grandson of U.S. Supreme Court chief justice John Marshall of Virginia. Richard Wade’s mother died when he was 5
years old. His father lost his fortune when Richard
was 16 and moved his family to Kanawha, Va. (modern W.Va.). Richard then went to work to help support his family. He commanded a fleet of salt boats
on the Kanawha River at age 17. In 1839 he married
Sara Jane Reno, daughter of Lewis Reno, a prominent Cincinnati citizen. They moved to Pike St. in
Covington in 1842.
Wade was the pilot of the sternwheeler New
Orleans from 1834 until 1844. Between 1844 and
1861, he served sequentially as captain and master
of the Duchess, the Europa, the Swallow (lost in
a collision), the Cincinnatus, the Queen of the
West, and the Judge Torrence. He was part owner
of the Queen of the West, which became a ram
boat during the Civil War, and the Judge Torrence. In 1862 Captain Wade joined the Union
Army as a volunteer and served as executive officer
on the gunboat Carondelet. He took part in the
military campaigns at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee. His health declined while serving
on the Carondelet and he was discharged in April
1862; he never returned to good health. From 1867
to 1870, he was captain of the General Lytle, the
U.S. Mail Line (Cincinnati Mail Line) Cincinnatito-Louisville ser vice, and temporary captain or
master of the United States in 1868. Wade’s and
another river pilot’s confusion in signals on a foggy
night resulted in the collision of the United States
and the America on December 4, 1868, at Warsaw,
causing the loss of 74 lives. As a result, both pilots
had their licenses revoked. Wade’s career continued
as captain (but not as pilot) of the Robert Mitchell,
the St. James, and the Bostona. He was made superintendent of the U.S. Mail Line in 1874, a position he held until his death from consumption in
1878 at age 62. He was buried at Linden Grove
Cemetery in Covington. His wife, Sarah Jane, was a
founder of the First Presbyterian Church in Covington. They had 12 children.
“Account of the Collision of the America and the
United States,” S and D Reflector 5, no. 4 (December 1968): 18–22.
“Death Notice,” CDE, February 20, 1878, 5.
“Death Notice,” CE, February 20, 1878, 5.
Linden Grove Cemetery Records, Covington, Ky.
“Pioneer Dying,” KP, June 24, 1905, 2.

Marja Barrett

1903, Maysville, Ky.; d. December 5, 1974, New
York City). Actor Joseph Henry Wadsworth was the
son of John Gray and Ida Power Wadsworth. He
grew up in the family’s large ancestral home, Buffalo Trace, built by his grandfather, Adna Wadsworth. After graduating from Maysville High
School in 1921, Joseph attended the University of
Kentucky in Lexington. He studied acting at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology’s drama school in
Pittsburgh, Pa. Using the stage name Henry Wadsworth, he appeared on the Broadway stage, in movies in Hollywood, and on television. He played several juvenile roles in films in the early 1930s,
becoming known as “the perpetual juvenile.” Wadsworth first appeared on Broadway in 1927 in the title role of Howard Lindsay’s Tommy. Two years
later, he made his movie debut in Applause as a
sailor on leave in New York City. The two bestknown films in which he appeared were The Thin
Man and the Oscar-winning It Happened One
Night, both released in 1934. His last film appearance was in the 1943 production of Silver Skates,
and his last Broadway appearance was in Rodgers &
Hammerstein’s 1950 musical The Happy Time.
After World War II, Wadsworth traveled to Japan
to entertain American troops stationed there. During his acting career he also served as administrator
of the Motion Picture Health and Welfare Plan and
as president of the American Federation of Labor
Film Council. Late in life, he turned to designing
theater costumes while living in New York City.
During summers he returned to his childhood
home, Buffalo Trace. Wadsworth died in New York
City in 1974 and was buried in the Maysville Cemetery in Maysville, Ky.

1860. During the campaign, Wadsworth worked
vigorously and helped stir up Union sentiment in
the state so that Kentucky’s electoral votes went to
Bell rather than to native-born John C. Breckinridge, standard-bearer of the Southern Democrats.
With the Civil War approaching, supporters of
the Union nominated Wadsworth to run for the
37th Congress in 1861 from the Maysville District,
and he won handily. In Washington, D.C., he was a
conservative Union man who supported the compromise proposals of fellow Kentuckian John J.
Crittenden and opposed what he considered the
coercive policies of Abraham Lincoln’s administration and Congress toward the South. Yet he accepted the war, while wanting to ameliorate its destructiveness, and even served for a time in the
Union Army. Bearing the rank of colonel, he was
an aide to fellow Maysvillian Gen. William
“Bull” Nelson at the Battle of Ivy Mountain and
also served under generals Green Clay Smith
and Lew Wallace. Wadsworth was reelected to the
38th Congress in 1863. After the war, he returned
to the practice of law, though now supporting the
Republican Party. In the presidential election of
1868, he campaigned for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant,
who had been his schoolmate at the Maysville
Seminary. As president, Grant appointed Wadsworth to an important commission that adjudicated millions of dollars worth of claims between
the United States and Mexico. Wadsworth returned to politics when he was elected to the 49th
Congress in 1884 but did not run again in 1886. He
was serving as general attorney for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company in Kentucky upon his death in 1893. He was buried in the
Maysville Cemetery.

In fall 1889 Harry A. Wadsworth, along with two
partners, J. H. Stegeman and H. Remke, built the
first Wadsworth Watch Case Company factory, a
two-story structure at the southeast corner of Jefferson (modern Sixth St.) and Overton Sts. in Newport. In January 1892 the company incorporated,
dissolving its former partnership structure. Within
a few years it earned a national reputation for its
gold-filled watch cases. During the 1890s the watchcase manufacturing operation moved to a nearby
building, formerly the home of the Dueber Watch
Case Company, Newport’s first nationally recognized watch case company, at Fift h St. and Washington Ave. After it had operated in Newport for
about a decade, rumors began to circulate that the
company would be moving out of state; but instead, in November 1899, it moved to Dayton, Ky.,
and made watch cases in part of the former Victoria Cordage Company complex, a ropewalk business, at Fift h and Clay Sts. At first the Wadsworth

WADSWORTH, WILLIAM HENRY (b. July 4,
1821, Maysville, Ky.; d. April 2, 1893, Maysville,
Ky.). Lawyer and legislator William Henry Wadsworth was the son of Adna A. and Mary Williams
Ramsdell Wadsworth. He began his schooling at
Tuckahoe Ridge in Virginia, then continued at the
Maysville Seminary (Maysville Academy), and
finally graduated with honors in 1842 from Augusta College in Augusta. He was admitted to the
bar in 1844 after studying law in the office of
Thomas Y. Payne and Henry Waller. He married
Martha Morehead Wood. In 1853 Wadsworth was
elected to the state Senate as a Whig. He lost his bid
for reelection in 1856 to a candidate of the American Party who had the support of many Democrats. He ran as an elector for the Constitutional
Union Party’s candidates, John Bell and Edward
Everett, in the momentous presidential election of

Thomas S. Ward

WADSWORTH WATCH CASE COMPANY.

WALCOTT COVERED BRIDGE

firm shared space with the Harvard Piano Company. The building the companies shared was a
block away from the new Speers Memorial Hospital. At the time, Dayton was a growing Northern
Kentucky city.
Wadsworth employed 261 workers in 1900 and
had an immediate impact on Dayton’s economy
and quality of life. The large steam engines originally installed by the rope-manufacturing plant
produced more power than was needed to make
watch cases, so the excess power was used to provide the city with electric lights for several years.
Things did not always run completely smooth at the
company; in 1913, for instance, the watch-polishers
union called for a strike. Nevertheless, Wadsworth’s
plant size and number of employees both increased
over time, and 600 people were employed by 1920.
The flood of 1937 did some damage to the plant,
but soon the machines were again humming as the
factory turned out quality watch cases and ladies’
compacts.
World War II brought changes: the firm answered the nation’s call to duty by converting most
of its facilities to the production of war materials,
such as shell casings, machine guns, and radio
parts. It was a time of high security, and early in the
war Wadsworth erected a high fence on the property. Police were alerted to check on cars doubleparked around the plant, out of concern that they
could be used as bombs. A fire at the company in
November 1943 initially raised some concerns, but
it was found that instead of sabotage, it was a simple case of rubbish being ignited by a furnace. The
fire created much smoke, and one employee was
trapped in a basement room; he was eventually
rescued by firefighters. The Wadsworth Watch
Case Company proudly produced more than 100
million precision parts during the war and earned
five separate “E” awards, which were given for excellence of effort in military production. Employment at the factory peaked at 1,350 workers in
1943. The firm dedicated a plaque at its plant on
January 6, 1947, to honor its 246 men and women
who had served in World War II.
At the end of the war, the company added
30,000 square feet of space and planned for its return to the production of watch cases and jewelry
items. The postwar years included a 1947 strike for
higher pay, but Wadsworth continued to operate
until it was reported in the mid-1950s that the
Wadsworth Watch Case Company was to be purchased by a competitor, the Elgin National Watch
Case Company of Elgin, Ill., for $2.7 million. The
Illinois watch case firm said that the plant would
continue to function as the Wadsworth Watch
Case Company under the direction of Arthur W.
Wadsworth, the son of a cofounder. However,
changes implemented after the sale did not work
out well, and company officials announced on September 21, 1957, that the plant in Dayton would
close on January 1, 1958. At the time, the Wadsworth Watch Case Company had some 200 employees and was Dayton’s largest employer. It was
often said around Dayton that almost everyone in
town had worked at some time or another at
“Waddy’s.”

WAINSCOTT, GEORGE LEE (b. May 6, 1867,
Owen Co., Ky.; d. May 15, 1944, Cincinnati, Ohio).
George L. Wainscott, the creator of the Ale-8-One
soft drink, was the son of G. W. and Elizabeth Hancock Wainscott. The first name Wainscott’s parents
gave him was Lee, but he added “George” because he
wanted to be referred to as G. L. Wainscott. However, close friends, family, and associates still called
him Lee. In 1896 he moved to Winchester in Clark
Co. to operate the Rees House, a hotel. In 1902 he
opened his first bottling plant, Wainscott Bottling
Works, on Main St. in Winchester. He marketed
various fruit-flavored drinks and soda water. In
1906 he began to sell Roxa-Kola, a drink named after his first wife, Roxanne. Roxa-Kola was a popular
rival of the cola drinks, but it never became as successful as Coke, so it was discontinued about 25
years after Wainscott’s death.
In 1926 Wainscott was inspired to create the
Ale-8-One soft drink after acquiring several gingerblended recipes during a visit to northern Europe.
He created a unique and difficult-to-describe flavor
in Ale-8-One. Some described it as a ginger and citrus flavor; others said it was like ginger ale with a
hint of fruit. The beverage was named by a local girl
in a naming contest that Wainscott held. Her explanation for the name Ale-8-One was that it meant “A
Late One,” the latest craze in soft drinks.
Wainscott was also involved in various other
business endeavors. He was engaged in the coal and
lumber business with his cousin Judge Joe Lindsay.
For many years, he served as director and treasurer
of the Clark Co. Health and Welfare League. He also
operated a large farm near Becknerville and owned
several buildings in Winchester. He was a member
of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church
and served as director of the Kentucky Baptist Children’s home at Glendale (near Louisville). He was
also a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago in 1936. Wainscott was a president
of the board of directors of the Clark Co. Hospital
and one of the hospital’s founders. Wainscott Hall, a
nursing-home section of the hospital, was established with funds contributed by Wainscott. It was
dedicated in 1933.
After a long illness, Wainscott died at a Cincinnati hospital in 1944 at age 77, leaving behind a
wife and no children. His funeral was held at the
Scobee Funeral Home in Winchester, and he was

923

buried at the Lexington Cemetery in Lexington.
He left half of his company to his wife, Jane Rogers
Wainscott, and the remainder to company employees. A decade later, Jane died, and her brother,
Frank A. Rogers, inherited her half of the company.
In 1962 Rogers bought out his partners and incorporated into the firm now known as the Ale-8-One
Bottling Company. Roger’s son, Frank A. Rogers
Jr., then became the manager and was later named
president, and the company began to grow phenomenally. In 1974 the company ceased to produce
the other Wainscott drinks, concentrating on Ale8-One, and Frank A. Rogers III, Wainscott’s grandnephew, joined the company’s management.
In Winchester, Ale-8-One is as well known as
the cola giants Pepsi and Coca Cola. Some simply
call it “Ale-8.” Today, Frank Rogers III and his three
children own the company. Wainscott’s family has
maintained his secret formula and the unique bottle and logo. The availability of Ale-8-One has expanded outside of the Winchester-Lexington area,
and it is now available in Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, Louisville, and throughout much of Kentucky.
Ale-8-One: Company History. Ale-8-One Bottling
Company Inc. www.ale8one.com/companyhistory
.html.
“Death Takes G.L. Wainscott,” Lexington Leader,
May 15, 1944, 1.
Elmore, Deanna, public relations administrator for
Ale-8-One Bottling Company. Telephone interview by Sharon McGee, August 11, 2004, Winchester, Ky.
“Funeral Rites for G. Lee Wainscott Planned Wednesday,” Winchester Sun, May 15, 1944.
Lomax, Rebecca. “The Latest Thing: Popu lar Soft
Drink Is Now Available in Cincinnati,” City Beat
8, no. 36, July 18–24, 2002, available at www
.citybeat.com/2002-07-18/diner.shtml.
“Long Illness Proves Fatal to G. L. Wainscott: City
Soft Drink Manufacturer Dies at Cincinnati,”
Winchester Sun, May 15, 1944.

Sharon McGee

WALCOTT COVERED BRIDGE. The extant
Walcott Covered Bridge across Locust Creek in
Bracken Co. is located adjacent to Ky. Rt. 1159, about
four miles north of Brookville. That location has
had one bridge or another since 1824. The Walcott
Covered Bridge is a 74-foot-long truss bridge made
of sawed timbers. It was built in about 1880, using a
combination of king and queen posts. The bridge,
which is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, was closed to automobile traffic in 1954 and
was repaired in 1984. The Bracken Co. Historical
Society oversees its preservation.
Covered bridges were built to prolong the useful
life of the wooden floors and the trusses of bridges.
The sloped roof of the covered bridge protected the
deck and main trusses of the bridge from rain and
snow and the heat of the sun. Covered bridges once
numbered in the hundreds within Kentucky, but
many of them have been destroyed by bridgeburning during the Civil War, heavy vehicles,
floods, storms, neglect, and arson.
Brandenburg, Phyllis, and David Brandenburg. Kentucky’s Covered Bridges. Cincinnati: Kentucky’s
Writer Guild, 1968.

WALKER, LYMAN R. (b. April, 22, 1880, Zanesville, Ohio; d. Feb. 23, 1933, Cleveland, Ohio). Architect Lyman Walker was the son of Richard B.
and Lucretia Morgan Walker. When Lyman was 10
years old, his family moved to Covington, and his
father, Richard Walker, became one of the city’s
prominent businessmen; he was in the real estate
and brokerage businesses. Lyman received his
early education in Zanesville Public Schools and
later attended Covington Common Schools. In
1894, at age 14, he left school to work in an architect’s office. He learned the profession quickly and
was soon hired by Samuel Hannaford and Sons,
in Cincinnati. He remained with that firm for three
years. In 1900 he took a position with the U.S.
Army Signal Corps as an assistant supervising architect in Cuba, where he remained until the military occupation ended in 1902. For the next two
years, he did architectural work in Omaha, Neb.
Walker was married twice, first to Helen Bondeson
and later to Gayle Towson. He returned to Covington in 1904 and continued to work as an architect.
Walker designed the Villa Madonna Academy
in Villa Hills (1907); St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
in Latonia; the Dan Cohen Building (see Cohen
Shoe Stores) on Pike St. in Covington; Covington’s Seventh District School, 21st and Center Sts.;
and, in conjunction with architects Harry Hake
and George W. Schofield, the old Farmers’ and
Traders’ Bank (later, First National Bank), on the
northwest corner of Sixth and Madison in Covington. In conjunction with George W. Schofield,
Walker designed the YMCA building in Covington at Madison Ave and Pike St. in 1913. During
World War I, Walker served as a lieutenant in the
U.S. Army Signal Corps; he once captured 78 German soldiers by himself. After the war he moved to
Cleveland, Ohio, where he specialized in the design of apartment buildings. He died at age 52 of
nephritis at the Huron Road Hospital near Cleveland in 1933 and was buried at Highland Park Cemetery in Cleveland.
Highland Park Cemetery Records, Cleveland, Ohio.
“How One American Soldier Captured Seventy-eight
German Troops,” KTS, August 7, 1918, 2.
“Looters Caught at Work at Walker Fire,” KP, June 5,
1913, 3.
Rootsweb. “Lyman Walker.” www.rootsweb.com.

WALKER, MELVIN WADDELL, MAJOR (b.
April 13, 1909, Covington, Ky.; d. January 19, 1995,
Cleveland, Ohio). War hero and educator Melvin W.
Walker was the only child of John and Helen Walker.
He was a graduate of William Grant High School
(1929) and the classmate of Covington attorney
John W. Delaney Jr. Walker graduated from Wilberforce College in Ohio with a BA in 1933. While
at Wilberforce, he took ROTC training. He later received a BS and an MA from the Ohio State University in Columbus. Walker entered the U.S. Army as a

lieutenant in March 1941, trained at Camp Benning,
Ga., and arrived in Italy as a member of the 366th
Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division, in July
1944. In January 1945 Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, commanding officer of the 92nd Infantry
Division, presented to Walker the Silver Star for
meritorious ser vice. The award reads, “Lieutenant
Walker took a raiding party across a canal, penetrating enemy lines, smashing installations, returning
with German prisoners.” Walker was wounded in
action in Italy and received numerous other medals,
including the Purple Heart. After World War II,
he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked for
the U.S. Veterans Administration and later taught
in the Cleveland Public School System. His teaching
career as a mathematics teacher spanned 43 years,
and he also did postgraduate work at Case Western
Reserve University in Cleveland. Remaining in the
Army Reserve, he obtained the rank of major. He
often returned to Covington to visit his mother at
the family residence on W. 15th St. At the age of 86
Walker died in 1995 in Cleveland and was buried
there.

designed portable stages and sets for small productions that could be transported easily and set up
quickly in small venues. His portmanteau productions were mainly a series of short one-act plays, vignettes. During the 1920s Walker sponsored high
school dramatic competitions among the high
schools of Northern Kentucky, and the prize was
one of his portable sets. In 1930 his career changed
as he went to Hollywood, Calif., where he wrote,
produced, or directed several classic movies: Tonight Is Ours, Great Expectations, The Mystery
of Edwin Drood, and The Werewolf of London.
But his stellar Hollywood career was cut short at
age 60 when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in
Beverly Hills, Calif. He was buried in Cincinnati at
Spring Grove Cemetery in his family’s lot.

19, 1869, Covington, Ky.; d. December 25, 1918,
Chicago, Ill.). William E. Walker, a Chicago architect, was born and raised in Covington, where he
attended both public and private schools. He entered Yale University at New Haven, Conn., and
received a BA in architecture in 1891. His first job
was as a draft sman with the Henry Ives Cobb architectural firm in Chicago. He was employed there
until 1897, when he took a position as supervisor
of construction for the Chicago Board of Education. In 1902 Walker left that job and opened his
own architectural firm. Most of his work was in
the design and planning of large commercial buildings and fireproof apartment houses. One of those
was a nine-story apartment building at 136 Lake
Shore Dr., believed to be the first in Chicago featuring a pent house. He died of a heart attack in
his home at 67 E. Division St. in Chicago, on Christmas Day 1918. Funeral ser vices were held at St.
Chrysostom Catholic Church, and burial was in
Graceland Cemetery. Walker was survived by his
wife, Mildred Rogers Walker, and their 12-yearold daughter, Edith.

Theodore H. H. Harris

WALKER, STUART H. (b. March 4, 1880, Augusta, Ky.; d. March 13, 1941, Beverly Hills, Calif.).
Stuart Walker, an actor and movie producer, was
the son of Clifford S. and Matilda Taliaferro Armstrong Walker. By 1900 his family had moved to 63
Front St. in Covington, the town that claimed him.
Walker’s mechanical inclination foreshadowed his
future early in his youth. He would build small
theater sets and put on plays for his family. They
begged him to produce new plays, so at age 12 he
began to write his own stage productions. He studied engineering, graduating from the University of
Cincinnati, and he also studied at the American
Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. By
1912 he was in charge of two New York City theaters owned by the famed director David Belasco.
Belasco was also the mentor of Covington actress
Dorothy Abbott. Walker worked his way up from
stage manager, playing minor parts, and was beginning to show great ability as an actor. He began
performing in touring road shows. In the 1920s he
returned to the Cincinnati–Northern Kentucky
region and formed the Cincinnati Stuart Walker
Company to promote, direct, and produce theatrical entertainment. He managed repertory seasons
in Cincinnati; Indianapolis, Ind.; New York City;
Dayton, Ohio; Chicago; Louisville; and Baltimore.
He was the first producer to bring Booth Tarkington’s Seventeen to the stage. Walker is also credited with founding the portmanteau theater movement, also called the little theater movement. He

WALLACE WOODS. Wallace Woods is a neighborhood in Covington, named for the farm of Robert Wallace Jr. (1789–1863), who purchased these
lands from Oneras Powell in 1828. The 80 or so
acres were bounded on the east by the Licking River
and on the west by the old Banklick road to Lexington. On the south side of the farm, several owners
held the land later acquired by Eugene Levassor
and Daniel Holmes. The farm’s northern boundary became the southern city limit of Covington in

WALLING, ALONZO, AND SCOTT JACKSON

1850. The old road to Lexington was part of the ancient Great Buffalo Path, which crossed the Ohio
River at the mouth of the Licking River. This pathway continued south to the Dry Ridge Trace at
Walton, which connected Lexington and Big Bone
Lick in Boone Co. In 1819, twice-daily stage runs
carried the mail and passengers from Lexington to
Covington.
The Wallace family, who were from Delaware,
began their trip to Cincinnati in 1801, when Robert Wallace Sr., an artillery officer who had served
under Gen. George Washington, moved west to
Marietta, Ohio. In 1809 the Wallaces settled in
Cincinnati, where they were counted among the
city’s pioneers in 1840. Robert Wallace Jr. became
an aide de camp to Gen. William Hull as he marched
in the War of 1812 to capture Detroit, Mich., from
the British. Wallace was captured with the rest
of the garrison when Hull surrendered in August
1812.
After he was paroled, Wallace returned to
Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1816, where he married Jane
Eliza Sterrett and became a partner in the Miami
Exporting Company with his brother-in-law Jacob
Baum. Wallace built a steamboat, the Hercules,
which he pi loted from Louisville to New Orleans
for the company. While in Louisville, Wallace acquired a family of slaves and from then on was a
slaveholding Southern sympathizer. When he returned to the Cincinnati area in 1826, he moved
from Cincinnati to Longwood, Ky., so that he
could keep his slaves. He first built a log cabin in
his woods along the Banklick Turnpike, in
which he held a financial and an administrative
interest. The new Latonia Springs outside Covington and three miles farther out the turnpike
were drawing visitors from Cincinnati and from
the South.
About 1840 Robert Wallace built a large house
with a portico on the ridge overlooking the turnpike. He furnished it with fancy rugs and furniture
purchased at his son-in-law’s business, the John
Shillito department store in Cincinnati. Wallace
borrowed $12,000, using his estate, which was
called Longwood, as collateral. In 1841 he found
himself bankrupted by the financial crash that had
occurred, but his brothers and his son-in-law were
able to buy the Wallace farm and the Longwood
mansion, and disaster was averted. In 1850 the City
of Covington annexed all of the land up to the Wallace farm, which became the southern city limit.
Wallace laid out a subdivision on the new Wallace
Ave., which ran east of Greenup St. Only a few lots
were sold before the Civil War, and the subdivision was closed. The large beech grove from Greenup St. east on Wallace Ave. became a community
picnic ground, which by 1880 was known as Wallace Woods. From 1851 to 1854 the Covington
and Lexington Railroad was completed west of
the turnpike, and Covington began slowly to fill in
the undeveloped land north of the farm.
With the rumblings of war in 1861, Union artillery batteries were developed on the hills south
of Covington and Newport, the cannons targeting
the roads to the South. In August 1862, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers expanded the batteries

into a defensive line that stretched along the Ohio
River from Fort Thomas to above Ludlow. A wagon
road, covered by rifle pits, connected periodic batteries. A pontoon bridge crossed the Licking
River about where 26th St. in Covington now runs
up to the Larz Anderson Battery on tunnel hill.
Union general Lew Wallace’s headquarters were
located in the Thompson house in the winery that
looked out over the Banklick Creek valley toward
the Latonia Springs. Martial law was declared in
the Wallace Woods area and southward and farms
in the area were ordered vacated. A young soldier
from Illinois described sleeping in a vineyard with
hundreds of other Union troops behind vacated
mansions. By mid-October it became obvious that
Confederate general Henry Heth was not going to
attack Covington or Newport, and within weeks
the Union trenches were empty.
Col. Robert Wallace died of dysentery in August
1863, and his obituary recounted his military adventures in the War of 1812. It also listed his activities as a leader of the Democratic Party and as the
head of grand juries in Covington dealing with slavery issues. After Jane Sterrett Wallace died in 1883,
the Longwood mansion and grounds rested in the
hands of C. G. Wallace, her younger son, and her
orphaned granddaughter Jennie. The land north
and west of the Longwood estate was incorporated
as Central Covington in 1880. About 10 years later,
the residents of the Wallace, Holmes, and Levassor
farms petitioned Central Covington to annex them
so that the residents could avoid the higher taxes in
Covington, which was known to be interested in
annexing these farms. C. G. Wallace died in 1893,
and Jennie Holmes sued his heirs living in Ohio to
force a subdivision of the Wallace farm, permitting
settlement of Robert Wallace’s estate. The first lots in
the new subdivision were sold in 1894, but construction was slow because of the poor economy. More
than half of the lots were built on by 1910 and the
remainder were built on by 1920. When Central
Covington was annexed by Covington in 1906, the
Wallace farms became a neighborhood within
Covington.
“Covington’s First Suburb—Turning 100,” KE, May 7,
1995, B3.
Gastright, Joseph F. Gentlemen Farmers to City
Folks: A Study of Wallace Woods, Covington,
Kentucky. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Historical Society, 1980.
“A Place for Pride to Endure; Wallace Woods Lives as
Symbol of City’s Spirit,” KP, November 2, 1995, 1K.

Joseph F. Gastright

WALLER, JOHN, CAPTAIN (b. 1758, Stafford
Co.,Virginia; d. February 1823, Bunker Hill, Pendleton Co., Ky.). John Waller, a Revolutionary War
veteran and an early settler, who named the town
of Falmouth, was one of the eight children of John
and Mary Mathews Waller. He enlisted in the
American Army on January 7, 1777, and was sworn
in by Capt. John Mountjoy. After serving for three
years in the 10th Regiment, he was honorably discharged in January 1780 at Philadelphia, having
attained the rank of captain. He received a Land

925

Office Military Warrant (no. 1567) for 2,300 acres
in Kentucky. An 800-acre portion was located in
Mason Co. and the remaining 1,500 acres in
modern-day Falmouth.
John Waller and his brother Edward came west
to Kentucky in spring 1784 and helped Simon Kenton establish Kenton Station. The Waller brothers
then left the Maysville area and traveled to Blue
Licks in modern Robertson Co. There they parted
company: Edward went south to the Paris, Ky., area
and John moved west down the Licking River to the
territory that became Falmouth. John married Garner Routt, the daughter of William Routt of later
Bourbon Co., on August 16, 1784, and they had 10
children; the records do not reveal why she left him,
taking all their children with her to Western Kentucky, and never returned. Much of Waller’s land
was sold and resold several times to settle title disputes. Attempts to resolve the matters in Waller’s
favor through the Kentucky state legislature and the
U.S. Supreme Court failed. Many of the Waller
family’s records that might have shed light on Falmouth’s early history have been lost. A fire destroyed
the original Waller cabin near Falmouth during the
late 1800s, leaving many questions unanswered.
Waller was elected in 1791 as a representative
to the general assembly of Virginia. On December
7, 1791, he received a certificate for being a Past
Master in the Masonic Lodge. When the trustees
of Falmouth held their first meeting in 1794, Waller
was appointed clerk pro tem. The selling of lots in
the town of Falmouth began on Monday, July 22,
1794, on order of the trustees, and Waller, as clerk,
was instructed to advertise the sale.
Waller died in 1823 in the two-story log house
that he erected on Bunker Hill in Pendleton Co.
He was buried, as was the custom at the time, in
the garden graveyard on that property.
Hartman, Margaret Strebel. Life History of Captain
John Waller, 1758–1823. Falmouth, Ky.: Warren J.
Shonert, 1985.
Kleber, John E. ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1992.

Mildred Belew

WALLING, ALONZO, AND SCOTT JACKSON (Walling: b. October 20, 1876, Mount Carmel, Ind.; d. March 20, 1897, Newport, Ky.; Jackson:
b. March 1, 1869, Wiscasset, Maine; d. March 20,
1897, Newport, Ky.). Walling and Jackson gained
notoriety through their convictions as murderers.
Early on the morning of February 1, 1896,
young Jack Hewling trudged along an abandoned
lane paralleling the Alexandria Pike (U.S. 27) in
Northern Kentucky, south of Newport. In the dim
light, seeing a bundle of dark clothing lying between two bushes, he stopped to investigate and
then retched in horror as he recognized a woman’s
body lacking a head. Lurid details of this sensational case appeared in the press nationwide for
the next 13 months.
Authorities discovered that the victim was four
or five months pregnant and that she was wearing
tiny, size 3B, shoes from a store in Greencastle, Ind.
Ultimately, police found that she was Pearl Bryan,

926 WALNUT HILLS ACADEMY
the 23-year-old daughter of a wealthy Greencastle
farmer. Bryan’s family thought she was visiting a
friend in Indianapolis, Ind. Her parents had no
knowledge of the pregnancy and were devastated
when they were able to identify her clothing. After
a week of investigation, Scott Jackson, a 26-yearold resident of Greencastle, and 21-year-old Alonzo
Walling, of Mount Carmel, Ind. ( just east of
Brookville in the southeastern part of the state),
were arrested and charged with Bryan’s murder.
Jackson and Walling were roommates and students at the Ohio Dental College in Cincinnati.
Alonzo Walling was born in Indiana, the son
of Samuel A. Walling, who died when Alonzo was
three years old. The family moved to Hamilton,
Ohio, and in subsequent years lived in College
Corners, Woodsdale, and Ripley, Ohio, and finally
Greencastle, Ind.
Scott Jackson was born in New England, the
son of Ebenezer Jackson, a well-known naval commodore. Scott’s mother, Sarah, was a leading literary and social figure in their coastal Maine community of Wiscasset, north of Portland. During
his turbulent youthful years, Scott was largely left
to his own devices and had numerous close friends
with poor reputations. He developed a taste for alcohol, fast living, horse racing, and women. Later,
in New Jersey, Scott was charged with embezzling
money from customers of the Pennsylvania Railroad and was granted immunity from prosecution
by testifying against his codefendant, who subsequently went to prison. Humiliated, Sarah and
Scott moved to Greencastle, Ind., to join his stepsister who lived there with her husband, a noted
scholar at local DePauw University. Scott’s shameful secret was safe there.
In fall 1894 Jackson enrolled at the Indiana Dental College in Indianapolis, but on New Year’s Eve he
was arrested for “consorting with a woman of illrepute.” He was expelled from school, his mother
paid his fine, and they returned to Greencastle,
where these demeaning events remained secret. In
spring 1895 Scott promised his mother that he
would reform and become the kind of son to make
her proud. He entered the Ohio Dental College at
Cincinnati that fall. Scott’s best friend in Greencastle was Will Wood, son of a prominent local clergyman. Wood had introduced Jackson to Miss Pearl
Bryan, the youngest daughter of Alex and Jane
Bryan and a second cousin of Wood. Soon the naive
Bryan became infatuated with the smooth-talking
Jackson, and during the latter part of that summer,
their relationship became a physical one.
In November Bryan was stunned to discover
that she was pregnant, and she notified Jackson by
mail of her condition. She hoped that he would
agree to marry her. His response was not encouraging. In her anguish, she turned to Will Wood,
imploring him to help convince Jackson that they
should get married. Jackson informed Wood that
he had no intention of marrying Bryan and that
some way must be found to abort the baby. By midJanuary, Bryan was four months pregnant and desperate. Jackson persuaded her to meet him in Cincinnati, where they could discuss their options.
She departed by rail on Tuesday, January 28, 1896.

During the month of February, investigators
pieced together the following likely sequence of
events. Upon Bryan’s arrival in Cincinnati, Jackson tried to convince her that there would be no
wedding and that an abortion was the only escape
from their dilemma. Jackson had previously asked
Walling to help him in performing the abortion;
they arrogantly assumed that their knowledge
from anatomy and surgery courses would be sufficient to successfully carry it out.
Bryan strongly resisted the plan, but Jackson
administered cocaine to her, suggesting that the
drug could induce an abortion. When it failed to
do so, late on the night of January 31, 1896, Jackson
and Walling rented a buggy, crossed the Ohio
River with the drugged and dazed Bryan, and
drove to a secluded spot near the Fort Thomas
Military Reservation in the Highlands. On a
nearby hillside, it is likely that Jackson used surgical instruments to remove Bryan’s head. Assuming
that the body could never be identified without a
head, they transported the head in Bryan’s valise
from the murder site back to Cincinnati, where
they probably disposed of it in the dental school’s
furnace.
When arrested, Jackson and Walling blamed
each other for the murder, perhaps thinking that a
jury could not convict them without a confession.
Feelings ran so high against the two that threats of
public lynching were ever present in Newport. Jackson’s trial began April 21, 1896, before Judge Charles
Helm in Campbell Co.’s Newport courthouse. On
May 14, after less than two hours of deliberation, the
jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty. Walling’s trial ran between June 2 and June 18, with the
same outcome. Both men were sentenced to death.
Kentucky governor W. O. Bradley (1895–1899) refused to commute the sentences to life imprisonment. At 11:40 a.m., on March 20, 1897, in the jail
yard in Newport, the two men were hanged. It was a
beautiful spring morning, and until the last moment, Walling held out hope that Jackson would exonerate him in the actual killing, but Jackson did
not. Walling’s last words were “You are taking the
life of an innocent man and I will call upon God to
witness the truth of what I say.”
Pearl Bryan’s body was buried at Forest Hill
Cemetery in Greencastle on March 27, 1896, without its head. H. A. Gobin, president of DePauw
University, officiated at the ceremonies. Over the
years, souvenir hunters have chipped away at the
headstone until only the base remains to mark
the grave. One can still find Lincoln-head pennies
glued to the base by well-wishers who did not want
Bryan to face Resurrection Day without a head.
Alonzo Walling was buried in a private cemetery
in Mount Carmel, Ind., next to his father; Scott
Jackson was cremated.
“Alonzo Walling and Scott Jackson Were Hanged for
the Murder of Pearl Bryan,” Kentucky Explorer,
June 1996, 14–17.
“Convincing Evidence That Pearl Bryan of This City
Was the Ft. Thomas Victim,” Greencastle Banner
Times, February 6, 1896, 2.
“It’s Out! Scott Jackson Accused of Murdering Pearl
Bryan,” Indianapolis Sun, February 6, 1896, 1.

“Jackson and Walling Die,” NYT, March 21, 1897, 1.
“Stern and Quick to Speak Were the Jurors in the
Jackson Case,” CE, May 15, 1896, 8.

James L. McDonald and Arden G. Christen

WALNUT HILLS ACADEMY. In 1857 Rev.
Nicholas C. Pettit, at age 30, founded the Cold
Spring Academy, later named the Walnut Hills
Academy. Several of the early settlers in the Cold
Spring area, among them Robert Dodsworth, John
Youtsey, Joseph Horner, Charles Horner, William
Winters, and George Winters, donated money to
finance the project. A well-known local Baptist
preacher and bricklayer, Rev. James Monroe Jolly,
constructed the building. It had four classrooms
and an auditorium on the first floor and an apartment for the principal on the second. This was, at
the time, one of the few all-brick school houses in
the state. Pettit served as the first principal, and
three instructors were hired to teach mathematics, music, and English. The teachers boarded with
a family named North, who lived next door. The
school developed an excellent reputation and was
recognized as one of the best in Campbell Co.
Many famous men, including presidents Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Howard Taft, are said to have made speeches from a
large second-floor porch at the school. It was just
before the Civil War that the name of the school
was changed to the Walnut Hills Academy, for
two large walnut trees that stood in front of the
building. During the Civil War, the building was
used as a Union Army provost headquarters, and
Union Homeguard Troops camped on the grounds.
The Walnut Hills Academy was sold in 1875 to the
Cold Spring School District for use as a public
school. It became both a grade and high school.
When the original building was destroyed by fire
on December 6, 1921, construction on a new
school building began at once. During construction, classes were held at the Licking Pike Baptist
Church. Several other modern buildings have
been added on the site of the original Walnut Hills
Academy.
Turner, Gary R. “N.K.U. Oral History Interview of a
Jolly Descendant, 1996,” Archives, Northern Kentucky Univ., Highland Heights, Ky.

Jack Wessling

WALSH, KATHY (b. April 11, 1947, Covington,
Ky.; d. October 8, 1970, London, England). Actress
Katherine Victoria Walsh was the oldest of five
children born to Thomas A. and Martha “Marty”
Weiss Walsh. She grew up at 55 Paul Hesser Dr. in
Lakeside Place, Ky., and attended Villa Madonna
Academy. At age 17 she was discovered by a talent
scout and, a year later, signed a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures. While she was attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in
London, her insurance-executive father was killed
when American Airlines Flight 727 crashed on
November 8, 1965, on its fi nal approach to the
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International
Airport (see also Aviation Accidents). In July
1969 in London, Kathy Walsh wedded an English

WALTON

baron, Piers Patrick Francis von Westenholz, who
was a young horseman and a member of the city’s
trendy café society set. The marriage was soon annulled. Walsh starred in the movies The Chase
(1967) with Marlin Brando, where she gave a memorable per formance as a wild and sexy teenager,
and The Trip (1967) with Peter Fonda. She appeared on U.S. television in The Virginian, in
Daniel Boone, and with The Monkees. She also
acted on the London stage and spent some time
studying acting at the University of London. In
1970 Walsh’s brief but ascending acting career was
cut tragically short. During a party at her London
apartment, she choked amid mysterious circumstances and quickly suffocated. Her body was returned to Mount Werner, Colo., home of her widowed mother, for burial. Later, it was reported that
she was murdered.
Ancestry Library Edition. “Kentucky Birth Index.”
http://search.ancestrylibrary.com (accessed October 18, 2005).
“Bluegrass Starlets and Their Tragedies,” KP, October
9, 1970, 1.
“Kathy Walsh Dead, Her Family Is Told,” CE, October 9, 1970, 13.
“Kathy Walsh Dies in London,” KP, October 8, 1970, 1.
“Wedding to Baron Happy Ending for ActressStarlet,” KP, July 10, 1969, 23K.

WALSH DISTILLERY. The Walsh Distillery,
located along the south side of Front St. in Covington, between Scott St. and the John A. Roebling
Bridge, was established during the early 1870s by
liquor merchant James N. Walsh, an Irish immigrant. Early partners of Walsh were Charles Henry
Kellogg and Peter O’Shaughnessy; Walsh’s sons
Nicholas and Dennis also joined him in the business. When James Walsh constructed the building,
he promised the city that there would be no hog
pens at his distillery. It was common to keep hogs
near distilleries at the time; the hogs were fattened
with the leftover mash, a by-product of distillation.
Nearby was the Hemingray Glass Company,
makers of many types of glassware including liquor bottles, but it is unknown whether its bottles
were supplied to the Walsh Distillery.
In 1873 there were five distilleries in Covington;
by 1913, 15 distillers, including the New England
Distillery, and 14 liquor wholesalers operated in
the city. Walsh’s physical plant was state-of-the-art.
In 1877 he connected the telephones at his distillery
in Covington to those at his son Nicholas’s distillery
in Cincinnati, with a five-mile long telephone line.
At the time when a half-million-dollar fire occurred
in the building in 1893, Walsh’s Covington facility
was regarded as the largest of its kind in the world. It
was quickly rebuilt. The Walsh building was well
known for the several fires it endured during its
years in the city.
The company was both a distiller and a redistiller (rectifier), meaning that the firm bought
strong distilled products from other distillers and
redistilled them into weaker blends. Walsh also
served as a wholesale liquor distributor. The company enjoyed vertical integration; that is, it controlled the means to distribute its own products; it

James Walsh of Walsh Distillery.

bought other distillers’ products and labels. Before 1905 Walsh also owned the Rossville Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Between 1905 and 1911,
operations were shifted to Lawrenceburg, which
came to be known as “the distillery city.” In 1907
the James Walsh Distillery bought the “Old Hickory” brand and label from a distillery in Louisville. By 1911, after being rebuilt several times following fires, the Covington distillery was no
longer in use.
“Another Fire: As Disastrous as the First,” KP, March
20, 1893, 4.
Covington City Directories, 1870–1920.
“Dennis Walsh Died while Coughing,” KP, June 14,
1905, 2.
Geaslen, Chester. “There Ran a Distillery or Two in
Covington,” KE, December 15, 1966, 2.
Goss, Charles Frederick, ed. Cincinnati: The Queen
City, 1788–1912. 4 vols. Chicago: S. J. Clarke,
1912.
Kentucky Death Certificate No. 300, for the year
1890.
LaBree, Ben, ed. Notable Men of Cincinnati at the
Beginning of the 20th Century. Louisville, Ky.:
George G. Fetter, 1903.
“Local Matter,” DC, November 12, 1877, 1.
“Sudden Summons,” CE, June 2, 1915, 8.

Michael R. Sweeney

WALTER AND STEWART. The distinguished
architectural firm of Walter and Stewart was one
of the finest and most prolific in Greater Cincinnati during the 10 years before 1872. William Walter was born in Hammond, Pa., in 1815, the son of
Henry Walter. Although little is known about the
early life of either the father or the son, it is known
that the family moved from York, Pa., to Cincinnati when William was a young man. Henry Walter lived in Cincinnati for the rest of his life and
became the city’s most significant Greek Revival
architect, playing an important role in the design
of the Ohio State capitol in Columbus. His finest
work was possibly the design of the St. Peter in
Chains Catholic Cathedral, on Plum St. between
Seventh and Eighth Sts. in Cincinnati.

927

William Walter was educated in local schools
and trained in his father’s firm to be an architect.
Whether these Walters were related to Thomas Ustick Walter, who designed the U.S. Capitol, is not
known. After his father’s death in 1851, William
Walter entered into a partnership with James Keyes
Wilson, a prominent Cincinnati architect. Wilson
also was involved in the training of such notable
local architects as Samuel Hannaford, James K.
McLaughlin, and Charles Crapsey. While associated with Wilson, William Walter designed several
churches and commercial buildings in Cincinnati.
William Stewart, the son of a builder and cabinetmaker, was born in 1832 and raised in Canada.
His father apprenticed him to a local architect. After Stewart immigrated to the United States in
1857, he worked in Chicago and in St. Paul, Minn.,
for a short time and then moved to Covington. He
and William Walter soon formed an architectural
partnership called Walter and Stewart. Between
1857 and the time Stewart returned to Canada in
1872, the partners designed a number of Northern Kentucky churches. Among them were the
Mother of God Catholic Church, the First
Baptist Church, the First Methodist Church (see
First United Methodist Church), the old First
Presbyterian Church (see Community of Faith
Presbyterian Church), and the Madison Ave.
Baptist Church (built 1869; demolished ca. 1912),
all in Covington. Few architectural firms designed
so many high-quality church buildings for so many
different religious denominations as did Walter
and Stewart. They also designed the old Covington
High School at 12th and Russell Sts., the Holly City
Waterworks at the foot of Madison Ave. in Covington, and the palatial home of Amos Shinkle
on East Second St. in Covington (demolished for
the construction of Booth Memorial Hospital).
Walter and Stewart made significant contributions
to building designs on both sides of the Ohio River.
After Stewart left the firm, he lived in Toronto and
later in Hamilton, Ontario, where he practiced
with his son Walter Stewart.
William Walter formed a new partnership with
George Humphries of Ludlow, and their company,
known as Walter and Humphries, lasted for about
three years. Walter then worked as a solo architect,
but none of his later work has been positively identified. William Walter died September 29, 1886, in
Cincinnati and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in that city; William Stewart died in Canada
in 1907.
Schottelkotte, Al. “Talk of the Town,” CE, September
10, 1959, 5A.
Tenkotte, Paul A. A Heritage of Art and Faith:
Downtown Covington Churches. Covington, Ky.:
Kenton Co. Historical Society, 1986.
Withey, Henry F., and Elsie Withey. Biographical
Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased).
Los Angeles: New Age, 1956.

WALTON. Running along a ridge in southern
Boone Co., Walton is a community that was settled, developed, and continues to grow because of
its location at a crossroads. On early-19th-century
maps of Kentucky (such as H. S. Tanner’s 1839 A

928 WALTON
New Map of Kentucky), it is referred to as Gaines
Crossing, where the road from Covington divided
into a route to Lexington (see Covington and
Lexington Turnpike) and a road to Warsaw.
There, Archibald Reid, a distiller and a major landowner, opened the first tavern in Boone Co. in
about 1795–1803. In 1808 Abner Gaines, a prominent local citizen who later served as a Boone Co.
justice of the peace and sheriff, became operator of
the tavern (see Gaines Tavern). The community
that grew up around the tavern and inn was called
Gaines Fork Roads, then Gaines Crossroads. A post
office, run by Gaines’s son James, was established
there in 1815. The Kentucky legislature renamed
the community Walton in 1840.
Walton lies atop a topographical feature called
the Dry Ridge Trace, a north-south spur of the
Great Cumberland Mountains, which marks the
dividing point for Northern Kentucky streams. The
ridge road has been an important transportation
route since ancient times, and Walton became an
entrepot for various modes of land transportation.
During the early 19th century, the ridge road became part of the Covington and Lexington
Turnpike, a major toll road connecting Cincinnati
with the central Bluegrass region of Kentucky. Beginning in the second decade of the 1800s, a web of
stagecoach lines connected Walton with towns and
cities of Northern and Central Kentucky. The turnpike was improved and macadamized in the 1840s,
easing travel between distant towns. These early
transportation improvements set the stage for the
town of Walton’s later growth.
In the mid-19th century, the small but lively
community of Walton had 50 residents, as well as
tobacco factories, livery stables, and carriage manufacturers. In the years following the Civil War, the
town became the railroad center of the county and
began to grow rapidly. During the late 1860s, the
Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington Railroad, the Short Line later acquired by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, laid tracks through
Walton and adjoining Verona. In the mid-1870s, the
Cincinnati Southern Railroad was built through
Richwood and Walton.
Although Walton was not the only railroad
town in Boone Co., it was the only community that
prospered because of its rail facilities. It became
the most important shipping point in the county
for farm produce, as well as a local drop-off point
for mail-order items. Soon passenger ser vice was
introduced, and daily commuter trains linked
Walton with Cincinnati, Covington, and Ludlow.
Traveling by train to shop in Covington and Cincinnati became popular in Walton during the late
19th century; additional runs were made on Saturdays to accommodate the standing-room-only
crowds. As late as the 1920s, Walton residents commuted to work or school by train.
In the years after the Civil War, a small African
American community formed in northern Walton.
Several generations of the Steele and Ingram families, descendants of freed slaves, made their homes
in the modest hall-parlor and saddlebag dwellings
along Church St. The center of this community was
the Zion Baptist Church, founded in 1872.

Walton was incorporated in 1870. It developed
as a classic linear railroad town, bounded by the
ridge and the rail lines. A business district flourished along Main St., with residential neighborhoods to the north and south. A small industrial
and warehouse district grew up beside the Cincinnati Southern Railroad’s tracks. By 1876, eight
years after construction of its first rail line, Walton
had a population of 300, along with a hotel, two
general stores, a blacksmith shop, a boot and shoe
store, a millinery shop, and a saloon. The local 1883
Lake atlas shows residential, commercial, and industrial buildings densely clustered along the turnpike, between Church and Depot Sts., and along
High St. to the east. To the north and the south was
open land, with scattered houses on large parcels of
land.
Beginning in the 1880s, the town expanded
south along the turnpike to the vicinity of the
present-day Mary Grubbs Highway. New brickand-frame residences of a variety of fashionable
types and styles were built on large lots for business owners and professionals. S. Main St. residents
of the late 1800s and early 1900s included mill
owner A. Mott Rouse, banker David B. Wallace,
clothing store owner Walsh Ridenour, and druggist Robert W. Jones. One of Boone Co.’s master
builders, George Nicholson, the son of Dr. Henry
Clay Nicholson, constructed many of Walton’s
new buildings. A resident of S. Main St., George
Nicholson built schools, churches, bridges, residences, and commercial buildings in Boone and
Kenton counties during the first half of the 20th
century.
An 1889 account depicts Walton as a prosperous and progressive community with a hopeful
future, because of its two rail lines and its location
in a rich agricultural district. It had three tobacco
warehouses with a capacity of more than 4 million
pounds, a “large flouring mill,” and three stores
“doing a business from $30,000 to $90,000 annually.” In 1879 the Walton Deposit Bank opened its
doors; it was the only banking house on the turnpike between Covington and Williamstown. Walton had Boone Co.’s first fire department bucket
brigade (1880) and its first streetlights (1890s). By
1900 Walton was the largest city in Boone Co.,
with a population of 583.
In 1900 the local school district, seeking a
higher quality of education for its students, merged
with the Verona schools, forming one of the county’s first consolidated districts. The county’s first
high school opened at Walton in 1901. The building
remains today on N. Main St., now used as apartments. Students from outlying areas boarded with
town families during the week, returning home by
train on weekends.
For the first half of the 20th century, Walton,
with its business district and diverse manufacturing enterprises, remained the largest town in Boone
Co. In 1914 the Walton Advertiser boasted: “Walton . . . is a ‘regular’ town, with a miniature Broadway, electric lights . . . a beautiful pike . . . two railroads. . . . [T]he metropolis of Boone County, [it]
bids fair to become a great city, on account of the
transportation facilities which it possesses.” Dur-

ing the 1920s, the turnpike was rebuilt as the Dixie
Highway (U.S. 25), the first highway in Kentucky
to link the rural South of the United States with the
urban North. The eastern division of the road was
built through Boone Co., passing through Florence,
Devon, Richwood, and Walton. The alignment was
chosen by 1913, raising the value of undeveloped
land along its future route. The new road, the widespread availability of automobiles, and the removal
of tolls also helped to transform the lives of middleclass Boone Co. families. It opened up new mobility
choices and employment opportunities but also
initiated suburban sprawl.
Like many other cities along the Dixie Highway’s path, Walton expanded and prospered, with
new neighborhoods platted to the north and the
south. By 1927 there were 50 buildings along
S. Main St., between Depot St. and Richland Ct. The
county’s most ambitious residential development
was the Alta Vista Subdivision, just north of the
railroad junction. Platted in 1929, it featured a boulevard lined with a double row of trees. Due to the
disruptions of the Great Depression and World
War II, however, only one house, the Edward Blau
residence, was built until the mid-1940s.
During the depression, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established in northern Walton, near today’s Alta Vista Dr. The camp, in operation from 1935 to 1942, housed hundreds of youths
employed in conservation and reclamation projects across Kentucky.
In 1950 Walton had a population of 750. Longtime residents recall mid-20th-century Walton as
a “comfortable, self-sustaining community of just
a few hundred people,” with a hardware store and a
half dozen groceries. Walton lost its preeminent
position in the 1950s suburban boom. The town’s
local businesses began to decline as people drove
to regional shopping centers with chain stores and
large merchandise inventories.
A tornado swept through Walton in 1956.
Although property damage was estimated at
$500,000, not a single life was lost. Fire devastated
the business district in 1971. The town also suffered a disappointment when plans to build a
theme park (Fess Parker’s Frontier World) north of
town were scrapped. Walton met these challenges
by joining the Kentucky Main Street program,
which has brought new life to the town along with
a deeper recognition of its distinctive heritage. In
2006 the town’s S. Main St. Historic District was
added to the National Register of Historic Places,
becoming the county’s third National Register historic district. In 2006 the city of Walton’s successes
were honored with a Preservation Award from the
Boone Co. Historic Preservation Review Board.
Walton entered its third century as a prosperous
community, with new residential, commercial, and
industrial development steadily building its population and tax base.
An Atlas of Boone, Kenton, and Campbell Counties,
Kentucky. Philadelphia: D. J. Lake, 1883.
Boone Co. Historic Preservation Review Board. Historic Structures of Boone County, Kentucky. Burlington, Ky.: Boone Co. Historic Preservation Review Board, 2002.

WALTON CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The Christian Church of Walton in Boone Co. was founded
in 1876, and the first pastor was Rev. J. W. Beasley.
The church is affi liated with the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ), a Protestant denomination
with members mostly in the United States and
Canada. The Walton Christian Church’s history
can be traced back to 1873, when Beasley conducted a revival meeting in Walton in the local
Baptist Church. He had been called to conduct this
revival by a group of Walton citizens. Three years
later, and seventy-two years after Barton W. Stone,
minister at Cane Ridge, first publicly set forth the
principles that led to the birth of the Christian
Church movement, a revival at Walton in 1876 led
to the founding of the local church. During the
first few years, other revivals were held; and the
Walton Christian Church met in several locations,
including the Masonic Hall (see Masons) and the
local school. Money was raised, land purchased,
and the first church structure was built in 1879. In
1905 the Walton Christian Church expanded to
two ser vices a month, and by 1911 individual communion ser vice was started. In 1916 Rev. E. C. Lacy
became the Walton Christian Church’s first fulltime pastor.
A new church building was constructed and
dedicated on May 5, 1918. It was built in town
along Main St. and cost approximately $20,000.
Over the next 20 years membership and attendance at the church doubled, and the building was
expanded in 1937. Ten years later, tragedy struck.
On November 27, 1947, Thanksgiving Day, the
building was destroyed by fire. Lost in the fire were
the church’s records, irreplaceable books, and a
newly purchased organ. A new church structure,
built on the foundation of the previous building,
was dedicated on August 14, 1949, and it remains
today. The new building’s cost was approximately
$75,000.
In the early 1950s, the church sponsored a large
tent revival on the Walton school grounds for all
denominations, reminiscent of the revival ser vices

held in the past. It included singing and preaching
by a variety of local and national religious speakers. The Walton Christian Church remains an important part of the community.
Ervin, J. M. Walton Christian Church. Walton, Ky.:
Walton Christian Church, 1938.
Rouse, Jack. Walton Christian Church: A History.
Walton, Ky.: Walton Christian Church, 1973.

Robert Schrage

WALTON-VERONA
INDEPENDENT
SCHOOLS. The Walton-Verona Independent
School District lies in the extreme southern part of
Boone Co. The largest independent school district
in the commonwealth, it includes the city of Walton, the community of Verona, and the surrounding area of approximately 26 square miles. As of
October 2006, the district had 1,269 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The first public grade school in Walton was established in 1839 at the forks of Old Stephenson
Mill Rd. and Old Beaver Lick Rd. It was operated by
the county and at first had a three-month term; in
1869 the school term was expanded to five months.
The first school in Walton to offer high school education was a private school started by Mrs. Cara
Myers, who came to Kentucky from Vermont and
had attended Georgetown College at Georgetown,
Ky. A teacher at the school, Henry Newton, was recognized in a local atlas published in 1883 as a
“teacher of the select school offering all branches of
mathematics and a regular course of thorough instruction.” This school operated until 1902, when it
became a part of the new public school. It was located two doors north of the Christian Church in
town, a site now covered by the church’s parking
lot.
William Ransler seems to have helped start the
Walton Public School, the first public high school
in the county, which included grades 1 through 12.
It met in a new brick building built in 1900 on
N. Main St. The building remains today and is used
for apartments. Some of the subjects taught in the
high school were four years of English, four years
of Latin, German, geometry, trigonometry, ancient
history, astronomy, botany, composition, and penmanship. A Mr. Hickey was the first principalsuperintendent, but he remained at Walton only
three years before moving on to teach at Harvard
University in Cambridge, Mass. Hickey set a standard by which many capable successors over the
years have been judged. The high school became
widely known, and people moved into the district
from other areas so that their children could attend; other families boarded their children with
friends or relatives within the district for the same
reason.
As early as 1880, there were two schools in Verona: one was the public grade school operated by
the county, and the other was a private grade and
high school known as the League Institute, which
was begun by Miss Nannie Hamilton. More is
known of the League Institute than of the public
school in Verona. Tuition at the institute was $50
per year. A boarding house and cottages were main-

929

tained for the many boarding boys and girls. Two
courses of study were offered: a scientific course,
which included algebra, the physical sciences, history, English, and so forth, and a classical course,
which stressed foreign languages (Latin and German), music, art, and public speaking. The private
school continued until around 1910, when it consolidated with the public school. In 1914 a brick
building was erected for grades 1 through 12, which
remains standing today.
In fall 1935 the Walton and Verona schools were
consolidated into one school district, with a grade
school maintained at Verona and a grade and high
school at Walton. Thus the district became known
as the Walton-Verona School District. For several
years, only students in grades 9–12 were transported from Verona to Walton. Later, students in
grades 7 and 8 were also sent to Walton.
The Walton-Verona Schools have never been a
part of the county system, nor do the communities
of Walton and Verona desire them to be. In 1955
the present high school building was opened in
Walton at the end of Alta-Vista Dr.; as the student
body grew, additions to the building were made in
1962, 1973, 1989, and 1993. Currently, the WaltonVerona Board of Education is building a new high
school wing that will accommodate further population growth of the community. In 1955 the first
three grades in the entire district attended classes
in the new building and only grades four through
six attended classes in Verona. This arrangement
continued until the present elementary school for
grades kindergarten through sixth was constructed
along Porter Rd. in Verona in 1971. This building
has had several additions to accommodate the
growth as well.
The hallmarks of the Walton-Verona schools
have always been a very high scholastic standard,
achieving recognition athletically, and producing
well-rounded, productive citizens who excel in
varied fields of endeavor. The district is unique in
the willingness of parents and citizens to take an
active part in maintaining an independent school
district by paying higher taxes, volunteering to
help with school programs, and having a direct
voice in educating the children of the community.
On December 15, 2007, the new Walton-Verona
High School was dedicated. Built at a cost of $14
million and designed by architects Robert Ehmet
Hayes and Associates, Fort Mitchell, it accommodates 700 students. According to Boone Co. planning officials, this new facility should adequately
ser vice growth for 10 years. A half-million-dollar
renovation of the middle school was completed in
2008.
“Plan New Elementary School for Walton,” KP, May
14, 1967, 2K.
“Walton Buying 117 Acres for 2 New Schools,” KP,
June 22, 2001, 2K.
“What Is Walton-Verona’s Future?” KP, November 2,
1968, 2K.

Kelly Fulmer

WAMPUM. Wampum was a town located along
the Falmouth and Lenoxburg Rds., about seven
miles southeast of Falmouth in Pendleton Co.

930 WARD, ANNA BELL
Wampum was situated on Kincaid Creek, and
much of it today is part of the Kincaid Lake State
Park. Among the businesses once operating in
Wampum were a sawmill, a gristmill, a blacksmith
shop, and a flourmill; a gentleman named Kennedy
operated the last blacksmith shop. Later, C. L. Myers opened a flourmill, but he eventually moved
eastward to Caddo, located on Ky. Rt. 10. Myers’s
mill was powered by a 60-foot-long steam boiler
that had once been used on a ferry that crossed the
Ohio River while the John A. Roebling Bridge
was under construction during the 1850s and
1860s. The boiler was transported to Falmouth via
the railroad. From there, a former slave, Kirk Hitch,
used a team of eight yoked oxen to bring it overland so it could be installed for use at the Myers’s
mill in Wampum. Three men, B. B. Thornberry,
John Smith, and Grant Wills, operated the Wampum post office at various times. Today no businesses remain open at Wampum, and 15 feet of
water cover the site of the old mill. The salt well that
once served the people of the town has also long
since been fi lled.
Belew, Mildred Boden. The First 200 Years of Pendleton County. Falmouth, Ky.: M. B. Belew, n.d. [ca.
1994].

Mildred Belew

WARD, ANNA BELL (b. December 28, 1897,
Covington, Ky.; d. May 18, 1986, Lexington, Ky.).
Theater manager Anna Bell Ward Olson was the
daughter of Edward and Annetta Ferguson Ward.
She was educated in the public schools of Chicago
and Covington and at age 14 won a scholarship to
the College of Music in Cincinnati, where she
graduated. She was a child vocal soloist at Christ
Cathedral (Cincinnati), the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, and the Lyric Theater, and with John
Philip Sousa’s Band and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She performed in various local
theatrical productions around Covington. At the
age of 17, Ward began her business career as
the owner-manager of the Pastime Theatre in
Maysville. Her family eventually owned a chain
of 35 theaters called Phoenix Amusements. She
became an early expert in motion picture theater
management and was recognized nationally for
her ability to publicize movies. Ward produced a
few westerns and starred in several as a young
adult. She was also an author of short stories, including “Night Winds,” “Big Business Girl,” and
“Uncle Andy’s Secret.” She helped to orga nize the
Kentucky Colonels in the 1930s and, as the organi zation’s fi rst secretary, was the keeper of its seal.
In her youth she held several long-distance swimming records. Politically she was an independent;
religiously, she was a Methodist. For many years,
Lexington was Ward’s home; her office was in the
Strand Theatre Building on Main St. In retirement, she lived in Somerset for many years before
returning to Lexington for her last years. She died
at Country Place in Lexington at age 90. She was
buried at the Lexington Cemetery next to her
husband, David A. Adolphus Olson of Somerset,
who died in 1964.

WARE, JAMES C. (b. February 3, 1913, Covington, Ky.; d. November 6, 1991, Edgewood, Ky.).
Banker, lawyer, and politician James C. Ware was
born and raised in Covington. He attended Kenton
Co. Public Schools (see Kenton Co. School District) and later graduated from Centre College in
Danville, Ky. After leaving school, he returned to
Covington and for the next eight years worked for
the Central Trust Banking Company in Cincinnati.
He attended Cincinnati’s Chase College of Law
for two years while he worked for the bank, and after passing a law examination in 1940, he was admitted to the Kentucky bar. During World War II,
Ware attempted to join the U.S. Army as an officer
but was instead made a special agent for the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. He left that position in
1946 and returned to Covington, where he joined
his brother William O. Ware at the law firm of his
father, Orie S. Ware. James Ware married Polly
Dawson, and the couple had two children, James C.
Ware Jr. and Mary Ware. The family lived at 83
Greenbrier Rd. in South Fort Mitchell (now Fort
Mitchell). James Ware Sr. entered politics in 1957
and was elected to the Kentucky Senate, where he
served for eight years. He held the office of Senate
leader pro tem in 1964–1965. While in that position, he served as acting governor nine times, on
occasions when both the governor and the lieutenant governor were out of state. As acting governor,
he made about 50 people Kentucky Colonels.
During a long and colorful career, Ware served
as a vice president of the First National Bank of
Covington (see First National Bank and Trust
Company of Covington), as chairman of the
board of the Baptist Convalescent Center, as
trustee of the Covington Children’s Home (see
Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky), and
as a member of the advisory council of Booth Memorial Hospital. He was an active member of the
Fort Mitchell Baptist Church for more than 40
years, where he served as deacon, trustee, and Sunday school teacher. He was also a member of the
Optimist Club and a president of the Kentucky
Historical Society. His wife Polly Dawson Ware
died in 1990, and in October of the following year,
he married Jo Kummer, the mother of John Kummer, an associate in his law firm. After being married for less than one month, Ware died of an apparent heart attack, while a patient at the St.
Elizabeth Medical Center, South, in Edgewood.
Funeral ser vices were held at the Fort Mitchell
Baptist Church, and he was buried in Highland
Cemetery in Fort Mitchell.
“Ex-Senator Ware, Acted as Governor,” KP, November 8, 1991, 1.
Reis, Jim. “He Was Governor for Nine Days,” KP, May
22, 1989, 4K.

WARE, ORIE S. (b. May 11, 1882, Peach Grove,
Pendleton Co., Ky.; d. December 16, 1974, Fort
Mitchell, Ky.). Attorney and congressman Orie Solomon Ware was the son of Solomon Grizzel and Ida
Petty Ware. He received his education in the elementary schools of Covington and attended the
academy of Professor George W. Dunlap at Independence. In September 1900, Ware entered the
University of Cincinnati College of Law, graduating
in 1903 with an LLB. He was admitted to the Kentucky and Ohio bars that year. Ware was a member
of the Kentucky Bar Association and the American
Bar Association and was a former president of the
Kenton Co. Bar. At the time of his death, Ware was
the longest-practicing attorney in Covington, having practiced law there a total 71 years.
Ware was active in politics. He was appointed
postmaster of Covington by President Woodrow
Wilson (1913–1921) and served from 1914 to 1921,
when he resigned to become a candidate for the
position of Kenton Co. commonwealth attorney;
he was elected for a six-year term in November
1921 and served from 1922 to 1927. While in that
position, Ware forbade dog racing in Kenton Co.
and successfully argued the appeal of his decision
against dog racing before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1926 Ware became a candidate for the U.S.
House of Representatives. In the 1926 Democratic
primary, he defeated Brent Spence; in the general
election that year, he defeated Republican Emmett
Daugherty. In 1927 Ware took his seat in the 70th
Congress. Later he served as a U.S. federal magistrate from 1942 to 1947 and as a Kenton Co. circuit
judge in 1957 and 1958.
Ware was involved in countless civic activities,
including building campaigns of St. Elizabeth Hospital in 1915 (see St. Elizabeth Medical Center),
the YMCA in 1916, the Booth Memorial Hospital in 1923, and the Covington Protestant Children’s Home (see Children’s Home of Northern
Kentucky) in 1925. During World War I, he was
executive secretary of the Kenton Council of Defense and was the general chairman of the War
Savings Stamp Drive. He was a member of the
Chamber of Commerce (see Northern Kentucky
Chamber of Commerce) for more than 50 years.
In 1968 he was the first recipient of the Chamber of
Commerce’s Frontiersman Award. He was a director of the First National Bank of Covington (see
First National Bank and Trust Company of
Covington) from 1933 to 1970. Ware belonged to
the First Baptist Church of Covington, where he
served on the board of deacons for 52 years and as a
church trustee for more than 30 years. He was an
active member of the Masonic Order for 71 years
and was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky in 1913; for more than 45 years he was a member of the jurisprudence committee of the Grand
Lodge. Ware was a vice president of the local Christopher Gist Historical Society. He married Louise Culbertson on September 19, 1906. Ware died in
Fort Mitchell in 1974 and was buried at Highland
Cemetery there.

WAR OF 1812. When the United States declared
war on Great Britain in June 1812, the military installation at Newport, Ky., became a focal point for
the war effort in the American West. Newport
Barracks, located at the confluence of the Ohio
and Licking rivers, acted as a supply depot and
training center. Several militia and regular army
units formed in Kentucky were bivouacked at “the
Point,” just across the Licking River on the current
site of Covington, where they gathered, organized,
and equipped themselves for campaigns throughout the Northwest Territory and later at New Orleans. The Newport Barracks also served as a way
station for captured British officers who were being
taken to the state penitentiary in Frankfort and as
a longer-term prison for 439 captured British privates and noncommissioned officers. That number
of prisoners nearly doubled Newport’s population
in November 1813. The men were held in confinement until July 1814, when they were moved to
Canada. Tradition has it that these prisoners of war
assisted in the construction of numerous buildings
in Newport, including the Richard Southgate
house.
Large numbers of Northern Kentuckians turned
out to fight the British and the American Indians on
the frontier, primarily in an effort to conquer Canada and wrest it from the British Crown. Kentuckians could be found on nearly all the battlefields of
both the Northwest and the Southwest campaigns,
serving in both state militia units and in regular U.S.
Army regiments. Many of these men were prominent individuals, and some became prominent
through their military ser vice.
One of the earliest to tender his ser vices to the
cause was Newport’s James Taylor Jr., who received an appointment as military agent and district paymaster of the army, with the nominal rank
of major. He gathered supplies and organized
transportation for them and then joined Gen. William Hull’s army at Detroit, Mich., whereupon
Hull appointed Taylor his quartermaster general.
Taylor was taken prisoner when Hull surrendered
his entire force to the British on August 16, 1812.
Paroled by the British, Taylor returned to Newport
to find that his position had been supplanted by the

federal government’s creation of the U.S. Army’s
Quartermaster Department.
William Orlando Butler of Carroll Co.
joined the army at the outbreak of war. Serving
with Brig. Gen. James Winchester, Butler escaped
the massacre in Michigan at the River Raisin in
January 1813 because he was wounded and captured earlier at the Battle of Frenchtown. After his
exchange, Butler returned to Kentucky and raised
a company of volunteers to serve with Andrew
Jackson in the New Orleans campaign, where Butler earned General Jackson’s praise.
Another significant ser vice performed by
Northern Kentuckians occurred in August 1813.
To combat the British on Lake Erie, Com. Oliver
Hazard Perry hurriedly constructed a fleet of small
warships. When he was unable to obtain a sufficient crew for the vessels, Perry appealed to Gen.
William Henry Harrison for men. Harrison in
turn requested volunteers from his army. More
than 100 of the 120 men who responded were from
Kentucky, and a significant number of them were
from Northern Kentucky. Pvt. John Norris, of Petersburg in Boone Co., played a decisive role in
Commodore Perry’s crushing victory over a British fleet on Lake Erie. Norris was among the Kentucky militiamen who had also volunteered to fi ll
out Perry’s crew and was generally credited with
firing the last shot of the battle and capturing the
British vessel HMS Hunter, for which he received
$300 in prize money. Each of the Kentuckians
present received $214 in prize money, and many
later received commemorative gold medals from
the grateful Kentucky legislature.
Also in August 1813, Newport was the site of a
rendezvous of 3,500 volunteers and militiamen
answering the call of Kentucky governor Isaac
Shelby (1792–1796, 1812–1816) for men. They were
organized in Newport and dispatched to General
Harrison’s army in the Northwest. Among the regiments thus organized was Col. Richard M. Johnson’s regiment of mounted riflemen, which included large numbers of Northern Kentuckians.
Their participation proved decisive at the Battle of
Thames in Upper Canada on October 5, 1813. The
mounted riflemen were credited with breaking the
British lines and with the death of noted Indian
leader Tecumseh. This battle proved to be the final
major battle in the Northwestern Theater. Maj.
Richard Montgomery Gano was second-incommand of a regiment of Kentucky Volunteers at
the Battle of the Thames. Gano served with distinction and later became one of the founders of Covington. (Covington was named for Brig. Gen.
Leonard W. Covington, who was killed in the War
of 1812 at the battle of Chrysler’s Farm [Ontario,
Canada] in 1813 while leading his men in an attack
on British positions.)
Northern Kentuckians were also present for
the final battle of the war at New Orleans, lending
their ser vices to Gen. Andrew Jackson’s efforts to
defend the city from British assault. More than
2,700 Kentuckians stood with Jackson at New Orleans, and more than two-thirds of that number
stood in the lines of battle. The remaining men
from Kentucky, who had not been furnished with

931

arms by their state, performed other ser vices to
help repel the British assault and keep that valuable
city out of British hands.
While it is impossible to say with certainty how
many Northern Kentuckians served in the War of
1812, since military rosters did not list the places of
origin for companies and regiments, it is certain
that at least hundreds, if not more, of local men became involved in this conflict. Northern Kentuckians were present for the campaigns in Ohio, Michigan, Upper Canada, and Louisiana. They fought at
the Raisin River, at the Thames, at Lake Erie, and at
New Orleans. It is known that 4.6 percent of the
troops who fought for the United States were from
Kentucky and that 64 percent of the men who were
killed in action were Kentuckians.
Donnelly, Joseph. Newport Barracks—Kentucky’s
Forgotten Military Installation. Covington, Ky.:
Kenton Co. Historical Society, 1999.
Hammack, James Wallace, Jr. Kentucky and the Second American Revolution: The War of 1812.
Lexington: Univ. of Kentucky Press, 1976.
Heidler, David S., and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. Encyclopedia of the War of 1812. Santa Barbara, Calif.:
ABC-Clio, 1997.

Tim Herrmann

WARREN, FRED, SR., MAJOR GENERAL
(b. August 23, 1903, Newport, Ky.; d. December 16,
1986, Fort Thomas, Ky.). Frederick M. Warren Sr., a
distinguished Campbell Co. judge and a World
War II veteran, was born and raised in Newport.
He was educated in public schools, graduating
from Newport High School, and received both
his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from the
University of Cincinnati. Shortly after leaving
school, he served as police judge and city solicitor
for the City of Southgate. Warren married Peggy
Beaton, and they had one son, Frederick Warren Jr.
In 1924 Judge Warren enlisted in the Ohio National Guard, where he served for five years and
was discharged as a 2nd lieutenant. After he was
admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1935, he set up his
law practice in Newport. In the 1930s he took part
in many of the organizational meetings for construction of the Mary Ingles Highway.
At the beginning of World War II, Warren was
inducted into the U.S. Army, with the rank of major. He participated in many battles throughout
Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, and
served for a short time under Gen. George S. Patton Jr. During his army ser vice, he was awarded
the Distinguished Ser vice Medal, the Silver Star,
and four Bronze Stars. He was released from active
duty in 1946 but continued to work with reserve
and guard units. He was promoted to brigadier
general in 1949 and to major general in 1954. Warren was recalled to active duty in 1959 and made
commander of the U.S. Army Reserves and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He retired
from the Army in August 1963. Warren was elected
a Campbell Co. circuit court judge in 1964 and
held that position for ten years. He retired as a fulltime judge in 1974 but continued to work as a substitute. Warren died at St. Luke Hospital at age 83.

932 WARRIOR TRAIL ALANANT O WAMIOWEE
Funeral ser vices were held at St. Thomas Church,
and he was buried in a mausoleum at St. Stephen
Cemetery, Fort Thomas.
“Fred Warren, Campbell Judge,” KP, December 17,
1986, 2K.
“Fred Warren Advances to Major General Post,” KTS,
February 14, 1955, 1A.
“Jurist, Army General Frederick Warren Dies,” KP,
December 17, 1986, 1K.

WARRIOR
TRAIL
(ALANANT-OWAMIOWEE). Many parts of the eastern United
States have trails known as the “Warrior Trail.”
These trails, based on game trails or manmade paths,
were used by the American Indians as trade
routes, access to hunting grounds, and warpaths
to attack neighboring tribes. Alanant-O-Wamiowee
(Path of the Armed Ones) was the principal warrior trail through Kentucky. It is generally agreed
that the trail ran from the Shawnee villages around
Sandusky, Ohio, to the Cherokee settlements in
the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.
Many consider the Alanant-O-Wamiowee Trail to
be part of a system that extended from Sault Sainte
Marie, Mich., to Charleston, S.C. Since it was used
solely for foot traffic, the trail was only two to
three feet wide. Its path was marked by blazes cut
into trees, stone markers, carvings in rocks, and
trees purposely deformed to serve as directional
arrows.
The Alanant-O-Wamiowee Trail, with numerous branches, crossed the Ohio River several times
between the Scioto and the Miami rivers. In other
places, the Scioto, Miami, and Licking rivers served
as waterway branches of the trail. The trail’s main
crossing of the Ohio River is thought to have been
at Maysville. From Maysville the trail ran southward to Eskippakithiki (the last Shawnee town
in Kentucky), in Clark Co., and on to Flat Lick in
Knox Co. At Flat Lick the trail turned southeast toward the Cumberland Gap and the Smoky Mountains. From 1780 to 1820, the Alanant-O-Wamiowee
Trail was used as the right-of-way for the portion of
the Wilderness Road that ran from the Cumberland Gap to Flat Lick.
The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19,
1782, on the banks of the North Fork of the Licking
River in modern Robertson Co., took place along
this trail.
Charles H. Bogart

WARSAW. Warsaw is the county seat and major
city of Gallatin Co. Located along the southern
bank of the Ohio River between Covington and
Louisville, for many years it was an important stop
and refueling place for the steamboat trade. It was
first settled in the beginning years of the 19th century, and first called Great Landing. Early on there
was a dockyard there, and the first boat was built in
1809. On December 7, 1831, the town was incorporated as Fredericksburg, but because there was already a town of that name in Washington Co., the
name was changed to Warsaw. After the Short Line
Railroad (the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington Railroad) was completed through the inland part of the county (Sparta and Glencoe) in

1869, Warsaw’s importance as a center of river
commerce began to decline.
The town has a significant surviving historic
district of some 60 Greek Revival structures, including that of Lucy Dupuy Montz, Kentucky’s
first woman dentist (see Warsaw Historic
Homes). U.S. 42 was completed through town in
the 1930s, connecting Cleveland, Ohio, via Cincinnati with Louisville. That road was largely bypassed
in the late 1960s by I-71, a route that, like the railroad, ran through a more inland part of the county
than Warsaw. A major fire did heavy damage to the
Warsaw business district in 1932; in the early 1960s,
the Markland Dam was completed on the river
near Warsaw; in the late 1970s a bridge to Indiana
was constructed across the top of that dam; and in
1987 the Sugar Creek firm, a maker of precast concrete products, was established. Warsaw became
home to the late riverboat personalities Captain
John and Clare Beatty, and the early-20thcentury Cincinnati boxer Tony LaRosa, father of
Cincinnati pizza king Buddy LaRosa, lived his final
days in Warsaw. Dr. Carl R. Bogardus practiced
medicine in Warsaw for many years, while becoming one of the Ohio River Valley’s leading riverboat
historians. Much of his collection was given to the
archives at Northern Kentucky University. In
recent years, Warsaw has been blessed with the
newly constructed Gallatin Co. Free Public Library, where other Bogardus materials reside in
the library’s Kentucky Room.
In 2000 the fift h-class city of Warsaw had a
population of 1,811, up from 1,202 in 1990. Its future is highlighted by the appearance of casino
gambling across the Ohio River in Indiana at the
Belterra Resort, the impact of the Kentucky
Speedway nearby at Sparta, and new industry that
has found a home in Warsaw, such as Warsaw
Steel.
Bogardus, Carl R., Sr. The Story of Gallatin County.
Ed. James C. Claypool. Cincinnati: John S. Swift,
2003.
Gray, Gypsy M. History of Gallatin County, Kentucky. Covington, Ky.: Self-published, 1968.
Kleber, John E., ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia.
Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1992.
U.S. Census Bureau, “American Fact Finder. Data Set.
Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent
Data. Custom Table.” www.census.gov (accessed
September 18, 2007).

WARSAW BAPTIST CHURCH. On July 29,
1843, Baptists living in Warsaw assembled at the
Gallatin Co. Courthouse to form a new Baptist
church. At this session the members, consisting of
12 whites and 8 African Americans, voted unanimously to adopt the articles of faith and the church
covenant. Elder John Scott was called as the first
pastor of the new Warsaw Baptist Church. Each
member was charged 50 cents a month to meet expenses. In 1844 the church was received into the
Concord Baptist Association. In July 1845, the
present corner lot at 106 W. High St. was purchased
for $100, and a brick building was constructed at a
cost of $800. The building was completed in 1846.
The Methodists rented the meetinghouse in 1857

for $1.00 a month for quarter-time ser vices. The
church apparently was inactive between 1862 and
1867. However, a reorganization took place in 1867.
In May 1882 the old church was torn down, and a
new one was built and dedicated the same year. In
October 1900, the church was one of 13 that withdrew from the Concord Baptist Association to
form the White’s Run Baptist Association. In 1945
the Warsaw Baptist Church withdrew from the
White’s Run Association to join the Ten Mile Association. A building-remodeling program was
started in late 1948. The dedication was not held,
however, until April 1950.
An educational building was added in 1957 at a
cost of $12,000. This building was severely damaged and the sanctuary completely destroyed by
fire on November 20, 1973. The construction of the
present auditorium and the repair of the educational building began a year later and were completed in time for evening ser vices on January 18,
1976. During the interim period of planning and
building, November 1973 through January 1976,
the Warsaw Baptist Church held regular ser vices
in the Gallatin Co. Courthouse.
Ghent Baptist Church Minutes, Ghent Baptist Church,
Ghent, Ky.
Warsaw Baptist Church History, Warsaw Baptist
Church, Warsaw, Ky.

Ken Massey

WARSAW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The Warsaw Christian Church in Gallatin Co. was organized on the first Sunday in April 1836, as the Congregation of Jesus Christ at Warsaw. Lyman Craig
and 14 other citizens asked traveling evangelists
David S. Burnett and John T. Johnson to come to
Warsaw and preach. They did so, and before the
end of the month, 114 members joined the new
church. Johnson was the son of Col. Robert Johnson, founder of the city of Warsaw.
The church’s first location was a small brick
building at the corner of Main and First Sts. in
Warsaw. The church purchased this building lot on
December 28, 1843, for $60. Rev. Benjamin Tiller,
the church’s first pastor, served as elder, pastor, and
business manager off and on for 42 years. He was
unpaid for the first 20 years of his ser vice. Early
baptisms were done in the Ohio River. The church
became inactive for a time during the Civil War.
Tiller fled to Indiana for his safety, and the 20th
Ohio Cavalry used the church as its headquarters.
But on February 22, 1866, members met at the
Warsaw Baptist Church to reorganize the
church. All previous members were invited to return, and shortly thereafter the church increased
its membership and constructed a new and larger
building. The current church building on High St.
was built in 1868 by Aaron M. Winters. A taller
steeple was blown off during the 1930s. The house
next to the church on the east corner of High and
Fourth Sts. was built in the 1860s and has served as
the church parsonage since April 21, 1959. An earlier parsonage (1905–1932) was at 204 Main St.
Rev. T. Herbert Tinsley served Warsaw Christian
Church for 31 years (December 1, 1935–June 8,

WARSAW HISTORIC HOMES

1966) and was also a six-term member of the Kentucky legislature. When the Ohio River flood of
1937 washed away most of the riverfront housing,
Tinsley was a driving force in the establishment of
Warsaw’s Red Cross Ave. On September 19, 2004,
the church celebrated the modernization of its historic building.
Bogardus, Carl R., Sr. The Story of Gallatin County.
Ed. James C. Claypool. Cincinnati: John S. Swift,
2003.
Spencer, Mrs. Earl, and Mrs. E. C. Threlkeld. Manuscripts and notes from original church records,
Warsaw Christian Church, Warsaw, Ky.

Bernie Spencer

WARSAW FURNITURE FACTORY. The Warsaw Furniture Factory was the pride of Warsaw, employing almost 200 persons at its peak of production. Trained craftsmen manufactured its handsome
furniture in a collection of styles out of beautiful,
highly polished woods. These pieces were sought after not only throughout the South, but also at furniture markets in Chicago, Grand Rapids, and New
York City. The factory was established by Owen Arthur Bogardus Sr., who arrived in Warsaw with his
wife Nancy Ballard Bogardus on a riverboat from
Cincinnati in 1902. Under his guidance the company became one of the leaders in the manufacture
of fine furniture, and Warsaw became known as a
furniture center.
At the beginning, designs were purchased. To
these were added Bogardus’s own designs and
those of his eldest son, Claude Bogardus. Other
sons, O. A. Jr., Carl, and Jim, all took their turns
working on the factory floor, although as adults
they moved on to other professions. The making
of complete dining suites was divided between
two factories. One plant made buffets, china closets, and serving tables; the other made dining tables and chairs. The most frequently used woods
were butternut and mahogany. Cata logs compiled
in the 1930s show the furniture to be of high
quality and sophisticated design. The factory’s
noon whistle was the signal marker of the day in
Warsaw.
At the time of his death in 1947, the factory’s
founder had become a man of means, and the name
of Bogardus continues to be revered in Gallatin Co.
In 1969 the factory was sold to Barry Brown, who
became its manager. He later sold the factory and
its grounds, and a BP gasoline station was built
there. The factory was torn down in March 1995.

WARSAW HISTORIC HOMES. When the
town of Warsaw was nominated as a National Register Historic District in 1982, it was described as
one of the best-preserved 19th-century Ohio River
towns in Kentucky. It was compared to Petersburg
and Augusta, river towns bypassed by newer modes
of transportation that have, as a result, retained a
small-town charm that resides to a great extent in
original historic buildings.
The first settlement in the Warsaw area, called
Great Landing, consisted of log buildings situated
near the river. The one that remains, the Yates
House, constructed in 1809, was the home of one
of the men who subdivided and platted the streets
of the community by then named Fredericksburg.
The structure stands at the axis of the historic district, covered in wood siding, its interior walls revealing the original logs.
The town was laid out on a grid plan, and the
first street built up from the fall line of the valley
was High St., where 16 of the 60 historic buildings
remain. Standing as sentinels on either end of the
street are the John Payne House, an 1822 Virginia
Tidewater with a Greek Revival portico, and the
Captain William Payne House, known as Seven
Pines, built in 1840 with an added Victorian veranda; both are sited to face the river. The Lucy
Dupuy Montz House, home of Kentucky’s first
woman dentist, is an example of a Greek Revival
I-house. Several painted-brick Federal houses still
stand on High St. and one block south on Main.
These houses, built in the 1830s, were the homes of
the first residents who prospered as the town grew
up from the busy river highway. Many of them
were built by Willis Peak, whose name is retained
in the names of several old homes in Warsaw. The
second, and most often used, part of the houses’
names refers to either the original or the longest-

WARSAW HIGH SCHOOL. Warsaw High
School was established in 1913, under the tutelage
of Professor C. S. Joseph. The curriculum included
four years of mathematics and Latin and two years
of German. Warsaw High School was consolidated
into Gallatin Co. High School for the beginning
of the 1935–1936 school year.

Hawkins Kirby House.

933

term owner. One of these Peak-built homes is the
Peak Corkran House, mentioned below.
In 1831 Fredericksburg became Warsaw; in 1838
Warsaw was named county seat of Gallatin Co., and
a courthouse was built on the public square at the
junction of High and Main Cross. One of the oldest
in continuous use in the state, the Greek Revival
courthouse first faced the river but was remodeled
in 1933 with a portico opening onto Main St. when
Main St. was rebuilt as U.S. 42. With its painted
white brick and two-story square columns, the
courthouse is the county’s landmark building. Another Greek Revival building, outside the district
but a landmark to those entering the town from the
east, is Heritage Hall, a private home built in 1869 on
the river side of the road, part of the Hill’s Nursery
property (see Gallatin Co. Plant Nurseries).
Warsaw was built largely between 1840 and
1900. The earliest commercial buildings still standing, a post office and a grocery, now jointly house
Maines Hardware, which retains the look of an
old-time store. These buildings east of the courthouse and those south of it have ironwork facades
and decorative tie rods and are built flush with the
street. The south buildings were the first on Main
Cross as it was built up, turning into the Sparta
Turnpike. The only other original government
building stands at the curve in the Sparta Turnpike.
It is the county jail, built in 1880 and is, like most
other county buildings in the district, a two-story
brick painted white. The Yager Gutting House, next
to Maines Hardware, had its second story removed
by a former owner and now houses two county
offices.
The five churches in the district span this time
period, from the 1851 Presbyterian Church, which
is now the Second Consolidated Baptist and once
housed a private school on its second floor, to the
Warsaw Methodist, built in 1901, with its Gothic
Revival accents. Included are the Italianate Christian Church and the St. Joseph Church, both built
in 1868–1869 and with historically sensitive recent
additions. The Sunday school building is all that

934 WARSAW METHODIST CHURCH
remains of the earlier Warsaw Baptist Church after
it burned, but a modern facade attractively juts out
onto its grounds on High St.
On the same block are the Clark Warnick
House, its rear addition home of the Gallatin
Co. News, and One West High, which was built
as the Warsaw Deposit Bank. The defi ning architecture of this era is Gothic Revival. The Hawkins
Kirby House, built in 1843 and termed “a little
jewel of a house” when it was restored by the Gallatin Co. Historical Society, is now the depository
of much of the town’s history. The former detached kitchen and dog trot, which have been enclosed as a single apartment along the side-facing
porch, and the cabin of Miss Charity Keene, who
served the Kirby family for many years, share the
grounds of the house on the corner of Second and
Market St. Back on High St. are Carpenter Gothic
homes, the Bradley House, built for the daughter
of Captain Kirby, and the Dailey House, which
serves as the parsonage of the Christian Church.
The only other house besides the Montz House
that has a separate listing on the National Register is the Peak Corkran House on Main Cross,
built in 1869 with the steep gables and decorative
pointed arches that defi ne this style (see Warsaw
Woman’s Club).
Several homes were built in the later Gothic
Revival, such as the Queen Anne–style Allen
House on Main St.; most of them are located out
the Sparta Turnpike on larger lots, for example, the
beautifully landscaped Mountjoy House and the
two Payne Houses, one with its intact carriage
house and the larger one at the city limits. All of
these homes retain at least a few of their original
outbuildings. Most of the architectural styles
seen in Warsaw are represented on this road, including Federal, Tudor, four-square, and midcentury ranch. Other singular styles are interspersed
throughout the district, including the Colonial Revival Blackmore House built on one-half of a city
block, one duplex, a mansard-roofed former funeral home, several antebellum frame cottages,
and former school buildings. Warsaw contains
buildings of every style and period from 1820 to
1930, with good examples of every major 19thcentury style that contribute to the historic
district.
Bogardus, Carl R., Sr. The Story of Gallatin County.
Ed. James C. Claypool. Cincinnati: John S. Swift,
2003.
Historic Walking Tour of Warsaw. Brochure available at Warsaw City Hall and the Gallatin Co.
judge-executive’s office, Warsaw, Ky.
National Register of Historic Places Inventory—
Nomination Form, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Ser vice, 1982, prepared from
site survey by Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort, Ky.

Jacquelene P. Mylor

WARSAW METHODIST CHURCH. Methodism first came to Gallatin Co. in the form of a
circuit-riding minister named Josiah Whitaker
around 1824. Meetings were held in various homes
during the winter months, and camp meetings

were held in the spring. The Warsaw Methodist
Episcopal Church was formed in 1844 and one
year later became the Warsaw Methodist Episcopal Church South (proslavery). The founding
members were Enoch Kirby and his wife Delilah,
Capt. James McDannell and his wife Arena, Dr.
John T. Robinson and his wife Eliza, and Dr. Robinson’s mother, Mrs. Lydia Craig. The first minister was Larkin F. Price. The church held meetings
in the homes of its members for several years. It
was permitted to meet in the Warsaw Baptist
Church during the 1850s. In 1867 the Methodist
congregation in Warsaw rented the Missionary
Baptist Church for one Sunday a month. Th is
church building was the former Presbyterian
Church, the first church building built in Warsaw.
It stands across the street from the present Warsaw Methodist Church and now serves as the Second Consolidated Baptist Church. While the
Methodists were holding meetings in the Missionary Baptist Church, a great revival took place,
and ser vices led by Rev. T. B. Cook continued the
entire winter. Rev. S. X. Hall and Rev. B. F. Bristow
assisted Cook. The congregation grew to more
than 200 members during the 1860s. In the 1870s,
the congregation purchased from the City of Warsaw the church building that had been the first
Warsaw Christian Church and was later used as a
school. Remodeled and dedicated as the Warsaw
Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1878, it was
used until 1901, when it was razed so that a new
structure could be built. The 1901 building committee consisted of S. P. Griffi n, J. H. McDannell,
Hugh Montgomery, Rod Perry, and Dr. S. B. Robinson, and the pastor was Willard G. Cram. The
building contract was awarded to two local brothers, Joseph and William Wilson. The new church
was furnished with beautiful stained-glass windows and finished with oak walls and arched ceilings. The beautiful altar was crafted by Carl Hensen.
The building, which cost around $7,000, was completely paid for by the time of its dedication on April
20, 1902.
During World War I, the church continued to
prosper even though many of its members left to
participate in the war. In the late 1920s, the church
saw strong growth; it had a large men’s Sunday
school class and a Women’s Missionary Society.
During the late 1940s, when a modern parsonage
was needed, the land next to the church was purchased for that purpose. The 50th anniversary of
the new church building was held on July 15, 1951,
and the parsonage was dedicated. In the 1950s,
during the construction of the Markland Dam,
the church grew again. Seven new Sunday school
rooms were added at this time. However, during
the construction the south wall of the church collapsed, causing $10,000 in damage. A large stainedglass window was lost, and the piano suffered
damage. While the church was being repaired, services were held in the courthouse and the school
gymnasium.
Today, this congregation remains in Warsaw at
the corner of First and Main Sts., where it has been
since 1878, in the present building, in use since
1901.

WARSAW NEWSPAPERS. The first newspaper
known to be published in Gallatin Co. was the Warsaw Patriot, printed by George Child and Asaph
Kent. The first issue appeared on May 26, 1837. Exactly how long this paper was in print is unknown;
however, there is mention of it in the minutes of the
Warsaw town trustees in 1839. The Patriot was followed by the Warsaw Herald, which first appeared
in October 1844. John Field was listed as proprietor
and R. S. Yerkes as editor. The Mexican War (1847–
1848) was the news of note at that time. Joseph B.
Ricker published the first issue of his Warsaw
Weekly News on December 7, 1869; it lasted only
three years. The Warsaw Record, with James M.
Vanice as editor and publisher, followed in 1872.
The second and third pages were printed using preset metal sheets of type, known as “boiler plate.” This
is the first time the boiler-plate printing technique is
known to have been used in Warsaw newspapers.
During the later part of the 19th century, other
newspapers were printed briefly in Gallatin Co.: the
Sign of the Times, the Gallatin Times, and the
Gallatin County Democrat.
The Warsaw Independent began publishing in
May 1880, with David B. Wallace as editor, and it
became a county institution; Wallace remained at
the helm for 27 years. For the three years ending in
1912, the Warsaw Leader, put out by brothers
Samuel and Roy Clore, was a competitor of the
Warsaw Independent. William Downtain, who
was from West Virginia, and later Will S. Griffin
became owner-editors of the Warsaw Independent in turn. After the death of Griffin, the newspaper was purchased by J. Barker Holcomb, a Warsaw
native. It was published by the Pendery Brothers of
Vevay, Ind., but they soon discontinued publication. Soon afterward, a new owner named Berkshire, of Burlington, began publication of the newspaper. E. M. Mansfield, the editor of the Carrollton
Democrat, followed him as publisher. The date of
the last issue of the Warsaw Independent is not
known; the Gallatin Co. News, established in
1926, edited in Warsaw and still in operation, superseded it.
Bickers, Russell. Interview by Denny Kelley-Warnick,
March 17, 2006, Warsaw, Ky.
Bogardus, Carl R., Sr. The Story of Gallatin County.
Ed. James C. Claypool. Cincinnati: John S. Swift,
2003.
Gray, Gypsy M. History of Gallatin County, Kentucky. Covington, Ky.: Self-published, 1968.

Denny Kelley-Warnick

WARSAW WOMAN’S CLUB. The initial meeting of Warsaw’s Literary Society was held on Friday
evening, October 27, 1899, at the residence of R. B.
Brown and his wife Beall Summons Brown. There
were 18 ladies and 4 men in attendance. The officers
they elected were Miss Ona Brock, president; Mrs.
H. T. Chambers, vice president; Dr. Lucy Montz,

WASHINGTON

treasurer; Mrs. R. B. Brown, secretary; and Miss
Temple North, librarian. The group was later renamed the Warsaw Classical Club. They met in
members’ homes as a study club on Monday evenings, “striving toward instruction as well as amusement.” A constitution was adopted, along with the
motto “More Light.” As the club evolved into the
Warsaw Woman’s Club, the programs expanded
from literature to include gardening, parliamentary
law, and history. The women sponsored luncheons,
teas, dinners, flower shows, and art exhibits. From
the start, there was a great sense of civic duty, as
members paid for school lunches for needy children,
purchased a piano for the school, paid for a sidewalk
built there, and conducted a book drive for the school
library. The club also donated to the Kentucky Children’s Home and to state and veterans’ hospitals,
aided homeless women, and fought for the preservation of Cumberland Falls. The Warsaw Woman’s
Club affiliated for several years with the Kentucky
Federation of Women’s Clubs but has been an independent club during most of its history.
In 1961 Louise Chambers Corkran deeded to
the trustees of the Woman’s Club her childhood
home in Warsaw at 502 Sparta Pk. (now Main Cross)
and its surrounding acre of land. The members deliberated accepting the gift, but a spirited appeal by
trustee Sallie M. Brown persuaded the ladies to take
over the house and to embark on the club’s first renovation project, restoring the house as its meeting
place. To help raise funds for their many projects,
club members operated a thrift store downtown.
They also continued their civic involvement by leading the effort to have Warsaw designated a historic
district on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1980 and by spearheading the “Trees for Warsaw”
initiative; they had previously beautified the U.S. 42
right-of-way and supplied public trash containers
for the city. The club’s longest-continuing project
has been the four-year college scholarship presented
to a local high school graduate.
In 1997 the club’s members formed the WWC
Peak Corkran House Inc., a nonprofit corporation to
ensure that the clubhouse could continue to be used
for community purposes. And after generous contributions from families of past and current members
provided matching funds for a restoration grant
from the Kentucky Heritage Council, the house went
through a second renovation and was prepared to
serve as the site of the club’s centennial celebration
on June 13, 1999. In 2005 the City of Warsaw leased
the house to be used as a meeting place and a visitor’s
center. The City plans to upgrade the house further,
making it accessible to all of the community; the
Woman’s Club continues to meet there. The Warsaw
Woman’s Club is the second-longest-continuing
organization in Warsaw, after the Masons.

WASHINGTON. Washington, a prominent
town in frontier Kentucky, was the county seat of
Mason Co. from 1788 until 1847. It was established
on the buffalo trace near Lawrence Creek that came
to be called the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike. The town was chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1786 and laid out by Arthur Fox Sr. and
the Baptist minister William Wood, on part of
1,000 acres purchased from Simon Kenton. It is
the first town west of the Appalachian Mountains
named for George Washington. The original trustees were Daniel Boone, Edmund Byne, Miles
Withers Conway, Arthur Fox, John Gutridge,
William Lamb, Henry Lee, Robert Rankin, and
Edward Waller.
Three miles south of Limestone Landing on
the Ohio River, Washington grew quickly on the
cane lands that Kenton had found so desirable. The
cane, often more than 10 feet tall, was easily cleared
for farming and housing. Based on the first U.S.
census, only Lexington was a larger city when Kentucky became a state. In 1790 Washington’s 462
residents, including only 21 slaves, lived in 119
houses. Most of the houses were made of large logs,
and some of them still remain. A handful of the
dwellings were built of brick and stone. In the last
decade of the 18th and the first decades of the 19th
century, Washington was the center of trade, education, and government for a large region. In 1797
there were 17 stores in town. Schools were started
and attracted students and professors. Mann Butler, who later wrote a well-known history of Kentucky, was a teacher in Washington. From 1807 to
1812, the school started by Louisa Keats, the Ladies
Domestic Academy, was the most respected in the
area. Newspaper testimonials attracted students.
The daughters of leading families attended the
academy and became the wives of prominent men
such as U.S. senator John J. Crittenden, secretary of
state Peter Porter, and Ohio governor Duncan

McArthur. A later school, the Pillsbury School for
Boys, closed when the headmaster, Josiah Pillsbury, joined the Confederacy.
Washington was the hub of the mail distribution system for the Northwest Territory. Lewis
Craig, the Baptist preacher and architect of Traveling Church fame, who led his Baptist congregation
to Kentucky to escape religious persecution, was
the builder of a grand two-story courthouse with a
25-foot tower. That building was destroyed by fire,
but the keystone is preserved with the initials “L.C.”
and the date, 1794. Row houses, the oldest standing in the county, were constructed in 1795. In
1798 a $1,000 lottery raised the funds to build a
system of wells, the first public waterworks system
in the West. In 1788 Dr. William Goforth established a medical practice at Washington that
lasted for a decade. Goforth mentored Dr. Daniel
Drake, who wrote a book on pioneer life and became a leading citizen of Cincinnati. In 1809 future president Zachary Taylor (1849–1850) was
stationed in the town as a military recruiter. Capt.
Thomas Marshall, brother of John Marshall, the
chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was an Indian fighter and the first clerk of the Mason Co.
Court. In the late 1700s, he built a large home
named Federal Hill within sight of the courthouse
on a hill near Washington. His famous brother was
a visitor, and their parents lived in the house for the
last years of their lives and were buried in a family
plot near the home. Washington’s population grew
to more than 800 by 1810. The first part of the 19th
century was the high point for the town’s political
and social prominence in the county. Limestone, by
that time called Maysville, was increasingly the center of the area’s development. The importance of the
Ohio River and the end of the Indian threat brought
about Maysville’s growth in influence, population,
and commercial importance. The Kentucky legislature debated for days in January 1847 whether
Maysville should be named the county seat. Two
votes had been held in the county, with slim majorities favoring such a move. The legislature actually
voted against the move, but after Mason Co. representative Henry Waller worked to get another vote,
the resolution making Maysville the county seat
passed and was made official the next year by the
legislature.
However, Washington retained both local and
national prominence after losing the county seat.
In November 1830 the first macadamized, or
paved, road in Kentucky and west of the Alleghenies was completed between Maysville and Washington. That same year President Andrew Jackson
(1829–1837) vetoed the Maysville Road Bill,
which would have provided federal support for
completing the highway between Washington and
Lexington. This legislation was embroiled in the
national debate between the philosophy of Henry
Clay’s American System and Jackson’s philosophy
of limited federal government in favor of states’
rights. The veto stymied the growth of the region.
Another national event connected to Washington
that occurred in 1833 did not manifest itself until
the 1850s. That year, Harriet Beecher visited her
student Elizabeth Marshall Key at the Marshall

936 WASHINGTON, GEORGE, JR.
Key home in Washington. The home was just a few
doors away from the courthouse lawn, where slave
auctions were held. Tradition holds that the sights
Beecher witnessed on this visit, perhaps along with
others, inspired some of the characters and scenes
in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). The slave auction
portrayed in Beecher’s chapter “Select Incident of
Lawful Trade” mentions Washington and a slave
auction before the “Court-house door.”
On the local level, many fine homes were
erected and large farms became prosperous in the
community and its environs in the early 19th century. Along with the hundreds of log houses, such
as that of founder Arthur Fox, which were the norm
during the settlement period, brick and stone structures were built. In town they included the Marshall and the Marshall Key houses; the stone
house of Dr. William Goforth; a brick building that
housed one of the first banks in the state; the Taylor
Brothers general merchandise store; the attorney
James Paxton’s house; the Pillsbury and McMurdy
schools; a hotel called Washington Hall, built to try
to keep the county seat; a proslavery Methodist
church built in 1848; and many others. Near town
were the George Wood house, whose entire upper
floor was an open area for entertaining; the home
of the Revolutionary War general Henry Lee,
called Clover Hill, which was built of oak with ash
floors and cherry woodwork; and the Richard Durrett house, which was used as a location for the 1986
PBS (Public Broadcasting Ser vice) movie Huckleberry Finn. John Chambers, who became the territorial governor of Iowa in 1841, entertained future presidents William Henry Harrison (1841) and
Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877) and other dignitaries
at his home called Cedar Hill, built in 1807. Woodburn, another stately home, completed in 1860, was
one of the last built by slave labor in the county.
These and many more fine old buildings are extant,
but many other fine homes and buildings in Washington have been destroyed.
Another Washington connection to the nation’s history was centered on a more modest clapboard house, the birthplace of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. A West Point graduate, secretary
of war in the Republic of Texas, and a shining star
in the Confederate army, he was killed early in the
Civil War at Shiloh. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson used the same clapboard house during the
Civil War. Camp Nelson, just south of Lexington, a
war time refuge for African Americans, is named
for Nelson and is the site of a national cemetery.
Mary Ward Holton, born in 1887 at Washington, became the most noteworthy press agent for
the Broadway stage, representing such performers
as Lynn Fontaine, Julie Harris, Leslie Howard, and
Alfred Lunt between the 1930s and 1970.
After the county seat moved, Washington remained an incorporated city until 1990, when it was
annexed by its old rival Maysville. At the time of annexation, the fifth-class city of Washington had a
population of 795, about the same as in 1810. The
community built a substantial school in 1916 that
was destroyed by fire in 1974. Over the years, Washington has been the site of a number of active
churches, a post office, and businesses. A sewing

factory and the Maysville Community and
Technical College, which opened in the late 1960s,
were both large employers before the annexation. It
was in the 1950s that historic preservation efforts at
Washington began, when the county government
made arrangements to take possession of the Johnston house. Several nonprofit organizations followed, and today the community has a number of
buildings open to the public, including an original
log cabin that serves as the visitor’s center, a museum
dedicated to Simon Kenton, a church museum, the
Johnston house, a log cabin that belonged to early
settler George Mefford, and the Paxton House.
There are numerous shops as well, and special festivals are held throughout the year, such as Frontier
Christmas, one of the oldest and premier festivals in
the state.
Calvert, Jean, and John Klee. The Towns of Mason
County: Their Past in Pictures. Maysville, Ky.:
Maysville and Mason Co. Library Historical and
Scientific Association, 1986.
Clift, G. Glenn. History of Maysville and Mason
County. Lexington, Ky.: Transylvania, 1936.
“Historical Past—Present Still,” KP, January 1, 1973,
4K.
Kleber, John E., ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia.
Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1992.

John Klee

WASHINGTON, GEORGE, JR. (b. December
25, 1844, Newport, Ky.; d. August 23, 1905, Newport, Ky.). George Washington Jr., a lawyer and a
politician, was the son of George and Martha
Doxon Washington. His father was a native of Jefferson Co., Va., and a steamboat captain whose
base of operation was Newport, Ky. George Washington Jr.’s great-great-grandfather was Samuel
Washington, brother of President George Washington (1789–1797). George Jr. received his early
education in Newport and Cincinnati. His father
died when he was 12 years old, and at age 16 George
Jr. joined the Confederate Army. He served for one
year, before receiving a medical discharge for battle
wounds. When he returned to Newport, he was
not well received because of his Confederate affi liation. Discouraged, he moved to Memphis, Tenn.,
where he roomed with Thomas Hines, another former Confederate soldier. Hines later became a
Kentucky Supreme Court justice. Washington
studied law under Gen. Albert Pike and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1866. He moved to
Knoxville, Tenn., to begin a law practice and served
as city attorney. In 1867 he married Jennie Ramsey,
and they had seven children. Their daughter Bettie
married John B. Taylor, son of James Taylor III
and grandson of Gen. James Taylor Jr., founder
of Newport. In 1881 Washington returned to Newport, where he entered into a law partnership with
Robert W. Nelson. Washington was an excellent
orator and was active in Democratic politics. In his
only run for office, he narrowly lost the race for appellate court judge in 1894. Kentucky governor
William O. Bradley (1895–1899) honored Washington by naming him a Kentucky Colonel in
1898. George Washington Jr. died in 1905 at age
60. His funeral ser vice was held at the Grace Meth-

WASHINGTON ARCHAEOLOGY. In 2005–
2006, an interdisciplinary archaeological investigation accompanied the City of Maysville’s use of a
backhoe to lay PVC pipe in trenches that connected more than 70 properties currently listed on
the National Register of Historic Places. The excavations were carried out to bury public utilities for
the historic district of old Washington in Mason
Co. Archaeologists monitored these machine excavations on behalf of the city, while studying the archival, architectural, and archaeological evidence
for several generations of this important 18th–19thcentury town. From each of the 70-some properties
investigated, the project recovered soil formation
data, artifacts, and in many cases intact built features such as relict buildings, backfilled shafts, and
buried pavements.
Previous archaeological investigations at Washington include the Stallings & Ross-Stallings excavations in the backyard of the Albert Sidney Johnston House and preliminary survey excavations at
15 properties, conducted by Nancy O’Malley. Both
previous investigations established that the soils of
Washington retain evidence of buried architectural ruins and the midden (trash) deposits of early
settlers and latter-day occupants, a conclusion confirmed by the 2005–2006 excavations.
As expected, recovered artifacts include a huge
sample of 18th- and 19th-century ceramics, glass,
and iron; the ceramics and glass indicate that the
frontier generation of settlers had fewer possessions than modern people and that most of their
possessions were handmade. In contrast, the sheer
volume of materials owned increases with industrialization and market access in the early 19th
century. The surprise came in the high quality of
the 18th-century “frontier” ceramics: creamware,
tin-glazed earthenware, and Chinese export porcelain found next to long-stemmed clay tobacco
pipe fragments.
What made the investigations unique was the
rare opportunity to examine both the private
properties and the public infrastructure of an entire town. Washington retains deeply buried, wellcrafted urban public landscapes that are remarkable in their extent. Most of the town was built in
what we would now call a wetland (the settlers
called it a pasture). Already in the 1790s, the town
required its citizens to assist in building flagstone
sidewalks above the quagmire. The town today
still has flagstone sidewalks, but the originals survive under the current surface, on the same align-

WASHINGTON OPERA HOUSE

ments. When Washington was at the height of its
power in the first quarter of the 19th century, every street intersection was graced with pedestrian
crosswalks composed of end-laid limestone, set
across the slope, in a technique stonemasons call
“surface drains.” The entire town was once laced
with dry-laid stone drainage culverts, built in several styles, including box drains with huge limestone flags as lids, big enough for an excavator to
crawl through. Taken together with the dry-laid
stone fences typical of the Bluegrass, these fi ndings indicate that Washington at its height must
have presented a manicured air of prosperity and
civil order. But all those civic improvements were
buried and forgotten, leaving only the buildings
to tell the story.
Washington has been subject to repeated Historic American Buildings Survey documentation
ever since the 1930s and includes more than 90
properties recorded in the Kentucky Heritage
Council’s historic resource inventory. Washington
is one of the only towns left in trans-Appalachian
America where the architecture of the frontier
survives side-by-side with high-style textbook urban townhouse architecture of the Federal period.
The cabins themselves are steeple-notched or halfdovetailed, often with a Tidewater chimney and
solid-panel shutters, built on stone footers rising
out of the wetland muck. For the Federal period,
there are fanlights, Flemish bond brick masonry
with corbelled cornices, multipane windows, and
basement windows with wooden pegs instead of
glass. Paneled rooms with clever cupboards and
elaborate fireplaces also are intact.
Conventional wisdom evokes an American
frontier in which poor people wrested private
property from the remote wilderness by the sweat
of their brows. What the archival investigators
found defies that conventional story of the frontier, while confirming the settlement models proposed by Richard C. Wade in his The Urban
Frontier, as well as the burgeoning aristocracy on
Kentucky’s frontier, as suggested by Craig T.
Friend in Along the Maysville Road. In 1959
Wade suggested that the trans-Appalachian frontier was populated from new urban cores growing
out into pacified hinterlands, reversing the mythic
order of isolated homesteads growing into cities.
Washington was built as such an urban core and
could proudly claim that it was never subject to
American Indian attack. Frontier settlers foolish or desperate enough to settle on land removed
from Washington often fell victim to the attacks
that feature so heavily in the Draper Manuscripts
and other frontier accounts. In 2005 Friend proposed that yeomen were socially eclipsed by an
aristocracy early in Mason Co.’s history. Most of
the first settlers were either young male entrepreneurs with capital to invest or indigent families
with nothing to lose. Already by 1779, improvement claims, then called “preemptions,” were illegal. Most of the pioneers on this frontier were tenants. By 1796, Washington had passed suff rage
ordinances making the ownership of land prerequisite to voting privileges, at a time when most
town residents were renters.

Eyewitness Harry Toulmin noted that in Mason
Co. in 1793, the value of an estate of 100 acres could
be doubled with one year’s labor in improvements.
A tenant farmer in a single year could double the
value of his landlord’s investment; hence, most tenants chose to continue moving West rather than
settle here permanently. If their arrival and departure from the county fell in the interval between
censuses, we will never know their names. However,
we now have ample evidence for their landlord’s refined porcelain and a remarkable urban infrastructure supporting refined early Federal surroundings.
Friend, Craig Thompson. Along the Maysville
Road: The Early American Republic in the
Trans-Appalachian West. Knoxville: Univ. of
Tennessee Press, 2005.
Miller, Orloff. “Archaeological Investigations at Washington, for the City of Maysville’s Utility Burial
Project, Mason County, Kentucky,” Orloff Miller
Consulting, forthcoming.
———. “Archaeology of Washington, Mason County,
Kentucky,” a lecture presented to the Central Ohio
Valley Archaeological Society, April 19, 2007.
O’Malley, Nancy. A New Village Called Washington. Maysville, Ky.: Old Washington Inc./McClanahan, 1987.
Toulmin, Harry. The Western Country in 1793: Reports on Kentucky and Virginia. Ed. Marion Tinling and Godfrey Davies. Reprint, San Marino,
Calif.: Henry E. Huntington Library, 1948.
Wade, Richard C. The Urban Frontier: Pioneer Life
in Early Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Lexington,
Louisville, and St. Louis. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1959.

Orloff G. Miller

WASHINGTON BAPTIST CHURCH. This
Washington, Ky., church, founded by Rev. William
Wood, dates to 1785 and was one of the first churches
in Northern Kentucky. Wood was a founder of
Washington in addition to serving as the first
preacher for the church; he also donated the land
for the church building and the graveyard, which is
still in use. In the cemetery are buried some of the
pioneers of the area: family members of Albert
Sidney Johnston, including his mother, Abigail;
the early Presbyterian ministers Robert Wilson
and Paradise Lost McAboy; and Arthur Fox Sr.,
the other primary founder of Washington. Also
buried there are American Indians including a
chief and his wives. Part of the graveyard was set
aside for “strangers.”
The Washington Baptist Church, which began as the Limestone Baptist Church, met in
Limestone in 1785. Near there in 1788 Wood conducted some of the fi rst baptisms in this part of
the state. Baptized in the Ohio River at this time
were Mary Rose, Ann Turner, Elizabeth Washburne, John Wilcox, and Elizabeth Wood. It was
reported that Indians watched from the north
side of the river, along with a large crowd from
Limestone. A log structure was built in Washington in 1788 on the grounds donated by Wood,
and the name of the church was changed to Washington Baptist Church in 1792. Wood continued
as pastor until 1798, when his land purchases
caused confl ict with some members. It was in this

937

fi rst church and on its grounds that a series of debates was held in October 1823 between Alexander Campbell, representing the Baptists, and
Rev. William McCalla, representing the Presbyterians. Thousands attended and both sides
claimed to have won the debates. The Baptists
hailed Campbell’s per for mance, but in 1830 he
led a split of the Baptists by launching his Disciples of Christ movement. Rev. Gilbert Mason was
the pastor at the Washington Baptist Church
from the 1840s until 1856 and was at the center of
a controversy that briefly separated the Washington Baptist Church from the Bracken Baptist Association, a group that the Washington church
had been affi liated with since 1799. Although the
fi rst church building was a sound structure, it
was torn down in early 1871. The replacement
church was destroyed by fi re in 1889 and was not
rebuilt; the Washington Baptist Church ceased to
exist. In 1980 an effort led by Rev. Ken Forman
and the Bracken Association of Baptists resulted
in rebuilding the church of logs, which stands today on the original site. It serves the community
on special occasions.
Collins, Richard H. History of Kentucky. Vol. 1.
Covington, Ky.: Collins, 1882.
Masters, Frank M. A History of Baptists in Kentucky. Louisville, Ky.: Kentucky Baptist Historical
Society, 1953.
Reis, Jim. “Cemeteries,” KP, April 21, 1986, 4K.

John Klee

WASHINGTON OPERA HOUSE. This elegant theater at 116 W. Second St. in Maysville was
constructed in 1851, on the site of the former Old
Blue Church (Presbyterian). It is the fift h-oldest
theater of this sort in the United States. In 1898 the
Opera House was gutted by fire, and the local
Washington Fire Company rebuilt it, at a cost of
$24,000. It was renamed the Washington Opera
House in honor of the fire company. Over the
years, many of the nation’s great performers graced
the opera house’s stage: Tom Mix, John Phillips
Sousa and his band, and John L. Sullivan. With
convenient steamboat and, later, railroad connections, the Washington Opera House was an easy
one-night-stand for acts traveling to and from Cincinnati. The building later became a movie house,
owned by Falmouth mayor Max Goldberg. By
the mid-1950s, the legend was well established that
the house was haunted by a young girl named
Mary, who supposedly had fallen through a trapdoor while performing in the building, broken her
neck, and died.
In 1962 the theater became home to the newly
formed Maysville Players, a local theatrical group
that opened its first season with the Thornton Wilder
classic Our Town. Eventually, the Players acquired
ownership of the building, and hundreds of plays
have been staged there since. Today, the Maysville
Players is the oldest group of its kind in the state.
The Maysville Players raised $2.9 million for restoration of the theater, which included new heating
and air-conditioning, restrooms, an elevator, new
seats, floors, and sundry other improvements. The

WASHINGTON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This church’s congregation held its first meeting in
the home of Isaiah Keith on April 24, 1792, in
Washington in Mason Co. Its first officers were
Isaac Cannon, Edward Harris, Andrew Henderson, Isaiah Keith, and Dr. John P. Campbell, who
as one of the eight early Presbyterian missionaries
to the area helped organized the church. In 1790
Washington was the second-largest city in Kentucky (which was not a state until 1792). The minutes of Kentucky’s Transylvania Presbytery first
mention the Presbyterian church at Washington
in 1793. The church’s first regular pastor was another of the early missionaries, Rev. Robert Wilson, who was installed in 1799; he also helped establish churches in Augusta and Maysville. Also in
1799 the church was transferred to the Washington Presbytery.
The Washington Presbyterian Church’s first
building was built in 1806 of brick and had a high
ceiling; it was furnished with high-backed pews. A
cemetery near the church was later destroyed by
road construction. In 1815 the church was transferred to the West Lexington Presbytery. The 1806
building was torn down in 1844, and a second building was erected at a cost of $2,500 that same year on
the site just opposite the present Washington Presbyterian Church. It was of similar construction but
had a gallery for black servants. After this structure
was deemed unsafe and torn down in 1868, the third
(present) building, a framed one-room building,
was built in 1870–1871 for $4,000.
In 1936 the Washington Presbyterian Church
celebrated its 144th anniversary. Rev. William S.
Smythe was its pastor, and the elders were David
Rannells, who had conducted a classical school
in the city for approximately 40 years, William
Richey, and Isaiah Thompson.
The church has a vibrant history of missionary
work. Mary Wilson (daughter of Robert Wilson)
married Rev. Lorin Andrews, and the couple
served as missionaries in the Sandwich Islands
(Hawaii) in late 1827. The church also had several
sewing societies and ladies aid societies. The Ladies Missionary Society was organized as early as
1886. The First Mission Study Class distributed
pigs to collect money for the Leper Fund and also
sent boxes of bedclothes and clothing to mountain
schools.
Allen, James S., and Ruth R. “The Church with Its
Cherished Memories since 1792 Organized in
1796,” 1972, Washington Presbyterian Church,
Washington, Ky.
Green, Thomas M. ed., Weekly Maysville Eagle, December 27, 1871.

Alex Hyrcza

WASHINGTON TRACE RD. A trace is a path
or trail, usually of trampled vegetation, inadver-

tently left by animals or human beings as they
travel from one place to another. In early historic
times, numerous traces were made by animals such
as bears or migrating bison (see Buffalo Traces).
Many of our modern highways follow early bison
traces. There were also trails or traces left intentionally by pioneers and explorers such as Daniel
Boone, who marked his Wilderness Road by
notching trees along the way. Washington Trace
in Campbell, Bracken, and Mason counties is a
road that roughly follows a trail left by early settlers traveling from Northern Kentucky toward
the town of Washington in Mason Co., just outside Maysville. In the early days, the trace evidently began where today’s Four Mile Rd. and
Fender Rd. intersect in Campbell Co. From there it
went out Fender Rd. to Four and Twelve Mile Rd.,
then to Twelve Mile Rd., and then to today’s Washington Trace. The trace then meandered southeast
through the towns of Carthage and Flagg Springs,
where it began to follow present-day Ky. Rt. 10. It
went through the towns of Peach Grove, Brooksville, Powersville, and Germantown, and when it
neared Maysville, it followed for several miles
present-day U.S. 68, going toward Blue Licks. The
trace ended at Simon Kenton’s block house in
Washington.
Many noted Northern Kentucky people lived
along the trace. William Kennedy and his son
James built a log cabin at Flagg Springs in 1789, from
which they surveyed much of northern and eastern
Campbell Co. They were also buried near the trace.
Elijah Herndon built a home for his family there in
1818, and the structure still stands today. His daughter Demarius Herndon White and her husband, Joseph Jasper White, raised their family at Carthage,
on the trace. Demarius wrote an interesting diary
from 1879 to 1883 about her everyday life there.
Early preacher and builder James Monroe Jolly
built at least two churches along the trace and was
the pastor of the one at Flagg Springs. Absolom
Columbus Dicken lived most of his life near the
trace and referred to it in his Civil War diary. The
executed Confederate Civil War veteran William
Francis Corbin lived along the trace and was buried on his farm beside this historic road. The land
along Washington Trace today remains relatively
undeveloped.
Wessling, Jack. Early History of Campbell County,
Kentucky. Alexandria, Ky.: Privately published,
1997.

Jack Wessling

WASHINGTON UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH. The church currently known as the
Washington United Methodist Church was the
second Methodist church established in Kentucky
and has been a constant religious presence in Mason Co. since its organization in 1786. Thomas and
Sarah Stevenson, settlers from Maryland, sponsored the Methodist church at Washington. Lewis
Collin’s History of Kentucky notes that the Stevensons were on the second flatboat down the
Ohio River, landing at Limestone Landing in
present-day Mason Co.; the earlier settlers of the

area had come by canoe. While living at nearby
Kenton’s Station in 1786, the Stevensons entertained Rev. Benjamin Ogden, a Methodist
preacher. In that same year they built a cabin near
Washington, Ky.; Ogden returned with his church
elder, James Haw, and the church now named the
Washington United Methodist Church was established. From this beginning until 1818, circuitriding preachers ministered to local Methodists in
the courthouse, in homes, and even in the local
jail. The first log church, built in 1818, was replaced
in 1826 by a stone church located in town on the
corner of Main and York Sts. The Methodist Episcopal Church, as this church was known at the
time, prospered until the issue of slavery split the
Methodists nationally in 1845. The Washington
Church reorganized as the Washington Methodist
Episcopal Church South, and a new church building was built in 1848. That building served the
congregation for more than a century. It was sold
in 1969 and now houses an interdenominational
church museum that is open to the public.
By 1939 the local church had shortened its
name to the Washington Methodist Church. Several pastors of note served the church around the
turn of the century. Rev. Urban Valentine William
Darlington served from 1896 to 1900 and later became bishop of the Kentucky Methodist Conference. Rev. J. J. Dickey was pastor at the Washington
Methodist Church in 1902, 20 years after he had
gone to Jackson, Ky., while a Presbyterian and organized Jackson Academy (later Lees College, and
now part of the Hazard Community and Technical College) there. In 1899 a parsonage was purchased in Washington on Main St., but a new parsonage was built behind the church in 1955. During
the pastorate of R. C. Mynear, in 1966, a decision
was made to build a new church building. Land
was purchased from an estate known as Cedar Hill,
and the new church was dedicated on October 19,
1969, with Bishop Roy Short and the church’s new
pastor, Jackson Brewer, on hand. The year before,
several groups had united nationally to form the
United Methodist Church, so the church in Washington became the Washington United Methodist
Church. The church building sustained heavy
damage in January 1975 as a result of arson, but the
damage was repaired and the church reopened that
August.
“Arson Destroys Church,” KP, January 22, 1975, 1K.
Collection of the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center,
Maysville, Ky.
Collins, Richard H. History of Kentucky. Vol. 1.
Covington, Ky.: Collins, 1882.
“To Rebuild Gutted Church,” KP, January 24, 1975, 4K.

John Klee

WASTE DISPOSAL. Northern Kentucky was
no more advanced in its early methods of waste
disposal than the rest of the nation. Depending
upon where people lived in Northern Kentucky,
their trash was dumped in privies or local sinkholes, thrown in nearby rivers and streams, burned,
or put in open dumps. Many in rural areas relied
on the barrel and the match or disposed of trash on

WATERS, ROBERT L., JR., “BOB”

their own farm, while most city residents had someone dump it for them. In some cases, waste was
thrown to hogs for forage. Some dumps burned the
trash in favorable winds to minimize litter, odor,
and vermin. For many years, each Northern Kentucky city had its own landfi ll, within its boundaries. Taylor’s Bottoms, along each side of Taylor’s
Creek between Bellevue and Newport, served that
purpose for those two cities; in Covington there
were dumps along Crescent Ave. at Second St., farther south where present-day Meinken Field is,
and along Banklick Creek (see Banklick Creek
and Watershed). Fort Thomas had a similar facility along River Rd. behind the Fort Thomas Military Reservation. At many of these sites, large
incinerators with tall smokestacks eventually were
built. Such locations were eyesores for neighbors
and smelled bad; today many of them are beneath
public athletic fields.
The centralization of the waste industry began
when people started relying on haulers to collect
their waste and dump it at an open dump. Although
the smaller dumps went unrecorded, the Kentucky
Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
documented the larger dumps during the promulgation of Kentucky House Bill 174 and inventoried
the unpermitted, inactive, and uncapped landfills
throughout the state. According to the list, Northern Kentucky has 36 uncapped, inactive landfills: 2
are in Boone Co., 10 in Campbell, 1 in Gallatin, 7 in
Grant, and 16 in Kenton.
Nearly all solid wastes in Northern Kentucky
are collected and taken to one of these four landfi ll
facilities: a landfi ll run by Bavarian Trucking
Company Inc., in Boone Co.; CSI (owned by Republic Ser vices Inc.), in Grant Co.; or one of the
landfi lls owned by Rumpke Consolidated Companies Inc. in Colerain Township, Ohio, and Pendleton Co., Ky.
The Bavarian Trucking Company Inc. began
operating its landfi ll west of Walton in Boone Co.
in 1974. In 1995 Bavarian became the third wastedisposal firm in Kentucky to meet the new composite liner design standards, and in 2003 its landfi ll was the first in the state that used landfi ll gas
to generate electricity. Bavarian now operates or
controls approximately 600 acres at this site and
employs approximately 100 people in Northern
Kentucky.
Contiguous with the Bavarian Trucking Company Inc. landfill is a closed site that was originally
operated by K&O Sanitation and later purchased
by Northern Kentucky Sanitation. In 1967 access to
the facility was cut off by the construction of I-71
through Stephenson Mill Rd., and the facility was
closed. Northern Kentucky Sanitation later reopened the landfill at the end of McCoy Fork Rd.,
directly across I-71. In 1973 Browning Ferris Industries (BFI) bought Northern Kentucky Sanitation’s
landfill and operated the facility. From 1974 to approximately 1980, Bavarian and BFI operated the
two landfills adjacent to each other. In a rare occurrence in the annals of the waste industry, Bavarian
purchased BFI’s property when it ceased all operations at the site. BFI’s landfill was sold to Vienna
Woods Inc., which capped and closed the facility.

The Epperson Landfi ll, owned by Republic Services Inc., is located off Cynthiana St., just outside
the city limits of Williamstown in Grant Co. The
landfi ll was started in 1968 by Hade Epperson, a
Grant Co. resident who had been collecting garbage in the county since the 1950s. When he died
in 1978, his son Freddie, then age 36, took over the
operation. In 1991 Kentucky adopted stringent environmental regulations, dramatically increasing
the cost of landfi ll operation. That year, Freddie
Epperson sold the landfi ll to Addington Environmental, based in Lexington. The following year,
the Epperson Landfi ll became the first facility in
Kentucky to be permitted under the state’s new
composite liner design standards. In 1996 Addington was merged into Republic Ser vices Inc., the
third-largest waste company in the nation. Republic continued to operate the landfi ll, which accepts
waste from Northern Kentucky and southwestern
Ohio.
Rumpke’s Pendleton Co. Landfi ll, six miles
north of Falmouth, began operations in 1972.
Rumpke purchased the site in 1980. The facility
consists of approximately 650 acres, and all of
the area except for the 148 permitted acres serves
as buffer. Todd Rumpke, regional vice president,
manages the facility, which has approximately
120 employees. The landfi ll is permitted to receive
municipal solid waste and construction demolition debris. The Pendleton Co. Landfi ll is part of
Rumpke Consolidated Companies Inc., which is
headquartered in Colerain Township, Ohio, just
outside of Cincinnati. Rumpke’s operation was
founded in 1932 by brothers William F. Rumpke
and Bernard Rumpke. Their sons, cousins William
J. Rumpke Sr. and Thomas B. Rumpke, expanded
the business and extended Rumpke’s ser vice area
into Northern Kentucky. Currently, Rumpke employs 2,300 people throughout Kentucky, Ohio,
and Indiana.
Bavarian Waste Ser vice. www.bavarianwaste.com
(accessed December 20, 2006).
Rumpke. www.rumpke.com (accessed December 20,
2006).

Rick Brueggemann

WATERS, ROBERT L., JR., “BOB” (b. November 9, 1922, Covington, Ky.; d. January 6, 2006,
Independence, Ky.). Guitarist Bob Waters and the
Paradise Islanders hosted the renowned Hawaiian
Luau and dinner show at the Howard Johnson’s
Hotel at the Sharonville, Ohio, exit off I-75 every
Saturday night for more than 20 years during the
1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, performing two shows
each night.
Robert L. Waters Jr. was the son of a Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad engineer, Robert L.
Waters Sr., who in turn, was the son of a steamboat
pi lot. Robert Jr.’s mother was Jessie C. Duval.
Young Robert relinquished the family transportation career tradition in favor of his first love, music,
Hawaiian music in par ticu lar. Growing up along
Scott St. in Covington, he, like so many other Covington boys, became heavily involved with Daniel
Beard’s Sons of Daniel Boone, better known as
the Boy Scouts of America, and achieved the rank

939

of Life Scout. Bob began playing the guitar as a
young teen, being mostly self-taught. The Troop 17
Hot Shots was the name of his Boy Scout band. He
graduated from Holmes High School in Covington in 1942 and studied voice for a time. His
instructors encouraged him to pursue an opera career, but after weighing the time and effort required
to be a successful opera singer, he opted to dedicate
all that energy to what he truly loved, playing guitar in a band.
Waters had a keen interest in Hawaiian music
early on, in his preteen years. While on a visit to Los
Angeles in 1941, he met Mamo Clark, the Hawaiianborn actress who graduated from the University of
Southern California and starred opposite Clark
Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty. That experience
only sharpened his interest in Hawaiian culture
and music. Then, while serving in the U.S. Marines
during World War II, Bob was stationed in Samoa
in the South Pacific during 1942–1943. The Samoans and the Hawaiians, who share common ancestors, have similar dialects and musical traditions. It
was there that he put together a band with some locals and entertained the Marines on the base.
Through his music he developed friendships with
members of a native Samoan tribe, studied their
customs and language, and perfected his music.
The tribe’s chief became very fond of Waters. He
adopted him as a son and gave him the name Pulevai, which Waters carried and used for the rest of
his life. Pule meant “great speaker or talker” and
vai, Samoan for “water,” was Waters’s Samoan surname. He eventually learned to speak the Samoan
language fluently, along with several other South
Pacific dialects.
Bob “Pulevai” Waters had his own Hawaiian
band from that time forth. He played with and
studied under many of the Hawaiian music greats
after the war, both in the Islands and stateside. He
was well known and respected in Hawaiian music
circles and became a very close friend of Jerry
Byrd of Lima, Ohio, said to be the most recognized Hawaiian steel guitar player of all times.
Byrd played country steel guitar and was featured
on Cincinnati television station WLW’s Midwestern Hayride for many years. Waters accompanied Byrd to the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association (HGSA) conventions in Joliet, Ill., every
October, to play backup for Byrd’s clinics, demonstrations, and competition. Each May they
traveled to Hawaii to play with the best bands
performing there, and each July they attended the
week-long Aloha International meetings in Winchester, Ind. Together, they amassed an impressive collection of HSGA awards to augment their
professional reputations.
Julia K. Puou Waters, Bob’s wife of 45 years,
played the ukulele and performed as a dancer and
singer in the Paradise Islanders alongside him for
their entire careers. A native of the Big Island of
Hawaii, Julia had served as a lady U.S. Marine from
1954 to 1957. When she was discharged, she came
to Cincinnati with a Marine girlfriend for a visit.
There, at a local Hawaiian Club get-together, she
met Waters. She sat in with the Hawaiian music
band that night, eventually replaced one of the two

940 WATKINS, SIMON J.
female dancers in the group, played the ukulele,
and later married Waters.
Bob and Julia Waters both retired from the
Paradise Islanders in 1986. Bob died in early 2006
at St. Elizabeth Medical Center South and was
buried at Floral Hills Cemetery in Taylor Mill. Julia continues to live in their home in Independence.
The musical legacy Bob Waters left was unique. He
established, nurtured, and propagated the Hawaiian entertainment tradition and venue in the Greater
Cincinnati area. Even after he retired, his band
continued to perform, helping to seal his musical
legacy.
Hicks, Jack. “He Brought Hawaiian Music Home,”
KP, July 15, 1994, 1K.
“Robert L. Waters,” KP, January 9, 2006, A8.

Don Clare

WATKINS, SIMON J. (b. February 1868, Courtland, Ala.; d. November 6, 1948, Covington, Ky.).
Simon J. Watkins, the son of Anderson and Mary
Watkins, was the first African American physician
in Covington. He was a physician, a surgeon, and a
dentist. Watkins attended Tennessee A&I State
College and the Meharry Medical School, both in
Nashville, Tenn., receiving his degree in dentistry
in 1888 and a degree in medicine in 1889. He
served on the Meharry Medical School faculty until 1891. Later that year, he moved to Covington to
begin his medical practice. He married a woman
from Covington, Rosa A. Moore, on January 12,
1893. In 1894 Watkins’s office was located at 429
Scott St. in Covington. Four years later he moved
his office to 113 E. Ninth St. in Covington, where
he maintained his practice until retiring in 1946.
Watkins was appointed to the state Interracial
Committee and was named a sanitary officer in
Covington by the state Medical Board. In May
1912 he organized the state Medical Society of Colored Physicians, Surgeons, Dentists, and Pharmacists at a meeting in Covington.
Watkins was a member of Lane Chapel C.M.E.
Church. In March 1895, he gave the welcome talk
to the Mount Sterling District Conference of Colored Methodists meeting in Covington. He also
served as a delegate to the Christian (Colored)
Methodist Episcopal conference for three consecutive years. He was actively involved in the local
Republican Party. Watkins died at his home in
1948 and was buried at Linden Grove Cemetery in
Covington. His daughter Anna Mae Jones operated the C. E. Jones funeral home after the death of
her husband, Charles E. Jones.
“Colored Conference,” KP, March 4, 1895, 5.
“Colored Medical Men Meeting in Covington,” KP,
May 10, 1912, 11.
Dabney, W. P. Cincinnati’s Colored Citizens. Cincinnati: Dabney, 1926.
Reis, Jim. “Historic Lane Chapel,” KP, March 4,
1996, 4K.

Theodore H. H. Harris

WCKY. As radio became increasingly popu lar
during the late 1920s, Kentucky had only three radio stations, WHAS and WLAP at Louisville and

WFIW at Hopkinsville. Two businessmen in Covington, Maurice L. Galvin and L. B. Wilson,
realized that a local station would be a valuable asset not only for entertainment but also, and more
importantly, to promote the business and growth
of the city.
In 1929 the Federal Radio Commission made
an allotment for two additional stations in Kentucky, the first a 1,000-watt transmitter that would
be shared with other stations, and the second a
5,000-watt transmitter located at 1480 KHz. U.S.
senator Frederic Sackett was contacted, and he immediately went to work to investigate whether a station could be added in Northern Kentucky. After
preliminary negotiations between the Federal Radio Commission and Senator Sackett, L. B. Wilson
completed and filed an application on February 5.
The application required that some preliminary
plans for the station be made; one item was the location of the transmitting plant. At the time, because
Cincinnati radio station WLW had built a new
transmitter at Mason, Ohio, its old broadcasting
plant at Harrison, Ohio, was available for purchase.
So the original application included the plan to
purchase the plant at Harrison. On February 6 the
Federal Radio Commission granted the permit for
the station. The permit was later amended to place
construction of the transmitter in Kentucky, specifying that totally new equipment would be used.
In April 1929 the new corporation purchased
RCA Victor equipment that duplicated the latest
used by station WHAS in Louisville. Radio station
engineers were asked to begin locating a site for the
transmitter, and later in the year, a farm belonging
to the Walton family, in Villa Hills, overlooking
the Ohio Valley, was chosen. Engineers began testing and found that a very strong signal could be
transmitted as far away as Louisville. The new station’s offices and studio were located in the Peoples
Bank (now US Bank) building at Sixth St. and
Madison Ave. in Covington.
By September the dream to begin broadcasting
had been realized and ground testing began. On
September 16, 1929, at 7:45 p.m., the station opened
with a 15-minute dedication ceremony from the
Crystal Room at the Music Hall in Cincinnati, coordinated with the fift h annual radio dealers’ show
also being held there. The National Broadcasting
Company, the Kentucky Post, and the Cincinnati
Post presented several programs that day, which
were followed by an announcement by Kentucky
governor Flem D. Sampson (1927–1931).
In 1937 WCKY increased its power to 10,000
watts; in August 1939 the station switched its affi liation from the National Broadcasting System to
the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and at
the same time increased transmitting power to
50,000 watts. At the same time, L. B. Wilson moved
the studios from Covington to the Gibson Hotel in
Cincinnati. The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement Treaty of 1941 caused considerable shuffling of stations and expanded the AM
dial to 1600 KHz. WCKY was subsequently moved
up the dial to 1530 KHz. In 1945 the station
dropped its CBS affi liation to become independent. Between 1946 and 1964, WCKY featured an

all-night country music disk-jockey program
that had a nationwide following. L. B. Wilson died
in 1954, but WCKY continued as an L. B. Wilson
station for another 15 years. In 1961 the station adopted the Mutual Broadcasting System network,
and in 1963 the station’s affi liation was changed to
the American Broadcasting Company. The station
thus is the only one in the region that has been affi liated with all four major radio networks.
In 1969 the estate of L. B. Wilson sold WCKY
to Post Newsweek Broadcasting, and a country
music format was retained for several years before
changing to a news/talk format, competing with
stations WKRC and WLW locally. WCKY was
later sold to Jacor Communications; changing its
call letters, it became WSAI “Real Oldies” at AM
1530 and featured the top 40 hits of the 1950s and
1960s. Although that programming was very popu lar, the owners switched back to a talk format and
resumed using call sign WCKY in 2005. On July 7,
2006, WCKY again modified programming, now
to a sports talk format, and became “WCKY 1530
Homer the Sports Animal.” The studios are now
located, along with other Clear Channel stations,
in the Towers of Kenwood building in Sycamore
Township in Ohio. At night the station can normally be heard as far away as Chicago, Miami, Detroit, and Wichita. The call letters WCKY signify,
by the W, a radio station east of the Mississippi
River; CKY stands for Covington, Ky.
Brinkmoeller, Tom. “WCKY Radio Breezes Past HalfCentury Mark,” CE, October 21, 1979, F6.
Hannaford, R. Clarke. “Merchandising Important
Factor in Radio,” Broadcasting Magazine, August
15, 1933, 21.
“Inaugural Edition Radio Broadcasting Station
WCKY,” KP, September 15, 1929, special sec., 1–15.
“One Station Is Due Kentucky,” KP, February 6, 1929, 1.

John E. Leming Jr.

WCVG. Covington-based AM radio station
WCVG dates to 1965, when Irving Swartz, manager and president of the Kenton Broadcasters
(WCLU Broadcasting), served as the new station’s
general manager. The station went on the air under
the call name of WCLU, with a daytime power of
500 watts; it was located at 1320 kHz on the broadcast band. WCLU began as a country music provider, featuring “Modern Country” music. The station soon moved its broadcasting studio to Milford,
Ohio, but the transmitter remained behind the
Latonia Plaza Shopping Center in Covington. In
1981 WCLU changed to a rock-and-roll music format and then in the mid-1980s to a contemporaryhit-music style. Swartz was one of the first to utilize
a computerized method of selecting songs for airplay. In 1987 Swartz sold the station to Richard
Plessinger, and the call letters changed to WCVG.
In 1987 WCVG switched to a contemporary
country format, which did not last long; the station became the nation’s first “All Elvis” station
late in that same year. In 1988 it became an affi liate of the Business Radio Network, going to 24
hours of business news and talk. In 1992 the station moved its broadcast studio back to its transmitter site in Latonia and returned to country

WEATHER AND CLIMATE

music and sports talk as a format. WCVG served
the Northern Kentucky sports community with
heavy coverage of high school sports and also
aired Northern Kentucky University and
Thomas More College sports. Former Mr. Kentucky Basketball (1978), Holmes High School
standout Doug Schloemer, has served as a sports
announcer for the station.
On July 16, 2006, WCVG was purchased for
$1.9 million by the Davidson Media Group and became a Spanish-language station. Over the years,
the station has struggled to find its market niche, as
reflected by its many formatting changes.
Nash, Francis M. Towers over Kentucky: A History
of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State. Lexington, Ky.: Host Communications, 1995.
Wikipedia. “WCVG.” www.wikipedia.org (accessed
February 14, 2007).
Williams, Tom. “Radio Station Alters Format again as
Country Music Replaces Business News,” KP, January 23, 1992, 12A.

WCVN/KET. WCVN television, Channel 54 on
the UHF band, is Northern Kentucky’s link to the
statewide KET (Kentucky Educational Television).
WCVN began broadcasting from its 300-foot tower
in Taylor Mill on September 17, 1969, after several
months of delays. This local outlet for public television, PBS (Public Broadcasting Ser vice), brings to
Northern Kentucky programs from the PBS national network and local programming from KET
production facilities in Lexington and Louisville.
During the early part of the academic day, instruction in various subjects is supplied to classrooms
in schools across the state; in the evening, national
broadcasts are sent over the airwaves. This programming would not be available if not for the existence of sponsor-free, public educational television.
Locally, WCVN has one of about 15 transmitters in
the KET network, spread across the state and fed by
a microwave system that emanates from the KET
headquarters on the campus of the University of
Kentucky in Lexington. There is no studio for local
production of broadcasts at the tower site.
During spring 2007, KET aired its own production of Where the River Bends, narrated by
Nick Clooney. An almost three-hour-long presentation on the history of the Northern Kentucky
region, it was well-received and resulted in KET’s
most successful one-night fundraising effort in
the network’s history.
“Blame Bad Weather for ETV Station Delays,” KP,
May 12, 1969, 6K.
“Covington’s ETV Is Near Start,” KP, March 4, 1969,
6K.
“Getting Ready for ‘Higher Education,’ ” KP, May 12,
1969, 1K.
“Our Educational TV Is On—‘People Know We’re
Here?’ ” KP, September 17, 1969, 1K.
Reis, Jim. “Northern Kentucky’s Quest for TV,” KP,
May 8, 1989, 4K.

WEATHER AND CLIMATE. Northern Kentucky is centrally located within the Ohio River
Valley, at an elevation range of 425 to 1,000 feet
above sea level. Geographically, this region is re-

ferred to as the Outer Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. Northern Kentucky experiences a vast array
of weather conditions over the course of a year.
Globally, nationally, and regionally, its location
within the midlatitudes of the United States plays
an integral part in the various storm tracks that
move in and out on a daily, monthly, and yearly
basis. Northern Kentucky is located in a transition
zone between two climates, Humid Continental to
its north and Humid Subtropical to its south.
Climatologically, Northern Kentucky is on the
southern rim of a continental polar air mass (colder,
drier, and more stable air) while hugging the northern fringe of a maritime tropical air mass (warm,
moist, and more unstable air). This air-mass battleground can create some wicked weather extremes:
large snowfall totals locally or very little snow in the
winter months, flooding rains or widespread
droughts, large heat spells or vast cold spells. The
area can also receive decaying tropical storms in late
autumn. It is where these extreme weather events
collide and shift seasonally or annually, defining an
eventual long-term climate for this territory.
Northern Kentucky’s position within the midlatitudes, its distance from major bodies of water
(the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the
Great Lakes), and its topography have created a certain annual “climate control” specified for this region. The “climate control” has helped to shape the
“averages” or “normals,” values that are used daily
by local forecasters, farmers, and the general public
as a guide to what the weather should be, dependent
upon the time of the year or for a certain growing
season. The numerical averages of precipitation and
temperatures are the largest factors observed and
have been roughly recorded for close to two centuries, beginning in the 1830s. These daily logbooks
have helped to establish a better understanding of
the region’s weather annually.
Evolutionary factors such as urban sprawl, decreasing farmland, natural growth, manmade
products, and congestion all have had some direct
impact on today’s climate status. However, average
temperatures and precipitation referred to now are
based only on the most recent span of 30 years. The
frame of reference is the environment that sur-

941

rounds Northern Kentucky currently, rather than
the setting of the region 180 years ago. The following is a sampling of the most current 30-year averages, documented from one data-point setting in
Boone Co. (the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
International Airport, 1971–2000):
Annual average precipitation: 42.60 inches
Annual average snowfall: 23.7 inches
Annual average high temperature: 64.0 degrees
Annual average low temperature: 44.3 degrees
Annual average mean temperature: 54.2 degrees
This kind of data is a yearly representation for
the entire Northern Kentucky region and is used as
the basis for all counties within the Northern Kentucky region. The 30-year averages would likely
vary from county to county due to their proximity
and topography, but the averages listed serve as the
standard for all counties within this localized area.
Spring: Meteorological Season March 1 to
May 31
Spring begins the growing season for most local
farmers, but this season is also known for its severe
thunderstorms and massive floods. The transitional period from early March to late May can be a
volatile one locally, with huge temperature swings
from clashing and retreating air masses. The slow
creep from winters’s past can still unleash lateseason snows and early spring tornadoes. Of all
seasonal variations, spring in Northern Kentucky
appears to be the most violent historically. Some of
the greatest documented tornadoes in the region
have occurred within this three-month time
frame. Late-season snows, copious rains, and massive snowmelt rank March through May high for
significant flooding along the Ohio River and its
tributaries (see Flood of 1884; Flood of 1907;
Floods of 1913; Flood of 1937; Flood of 1964,
Licking River; Flood of 1997, Licking River).
Historical data shows that 6 of the 10 greatest
floods for this area occurred in the early spring
months of March and April. As the days get longer
with increased sunlight and milder with higher
temperatures, spring flooding becomes less likely

942 WEATHER AND CLIMATE
along the Ohio River. It is around this time of the
year that the melted snows have finally pushed
downstream and that the average last spring freeze
occurs (on April 21), a true sign that the growing
season has begun.

SUMMER METEOROLOGICAL SEASON

Summer: Meteorological Season June 1
to August 31
Typically, the progression from spring into summer is a gradual one in this region. The month of
June averages a robust rainfall total at 4.42 inches,
placing it second only to May for annual precipitation totals, while the average daily high temperatures rise by 14 degrees from May 1 to June 30.
Eventually, the summer’s heat is felt by the last week
of June and continues through late August. As the
prevailing summertime winds turn southwesterly,
moist air from the Gulf of Mexico becomes more
prevalent. This regime of air not only makes for
hotter days but also more humid ones. Daily storms
become less common during this period as cooler
air retreats north and upper-level winds relax, keeping most frontal boundaries with more organized
thunderstorms concentrated across the Great Lakes
region. The typical storm activity during this sixto-eight-week period is more limited and localized,
but collectively July and August deliver an average
rainfall total of 7.54 inches.
Excessively hot periods are documented for
this region, especially in July. Most recent is the
record heat occurring in 1988, which set eight new
record high temperatures during the weeks of late
June through August. Locally and nationally, the
summer of 1988 was devastating in relation to heat
and drought. Some 7,500 heat-related deaths occurred, mainly across the eastern United States,
along with an estimated $61.6 billion in drought
damage and aid. In 1944 an additional eight days
of record heat were observed locally from late June
through August. In the intensely hot summer of
1953, 51 days of 90-degree temperatures or greater
were experienced, the most in more than 60 years;
on average, Northern Kentucky’s summer months
produce only 18 90-degree days.
Historically, the years 1934 and 1936 stand out
in terms of record heat and drought. The all-time
record high temperature fell in the year of 1934, with
a blistering 109 degrees on July 21. Seven record
highs were recorded in 1934, five of them at or exceeding 100 degrees. The summer of 1934 may have
held the hottest day in historical data, but 1936 was
also extremely harsh. Eleven new record highs were
set in the summer of 1936, all exceeding 100 degrees.
Within the week of July 10, six days topped 100 degrees, and all were set as new records, which remain
today. These two years represent extreme heat locally and drought conditions that also affected the
“breadbasket” of the nation to the west. The Dust
Bowl Years, which included 1934 and 1936, lasted
for close to a decade in some parts of the country.
Autumn: Meteorological Season September 1
to November 30
Autumn in the Ohio River Valley is a rather tranquil
season. Dry, warm days followed by clear, cool
nights are the common theme from late September

June

July

August

72.0 degrees

76.3 degrees

74.5 degrees

Warmest monthly temperature

102.0 degrees

109.0 degrees

103.0 degrees

Coldest monthly temperature

39.0 degrees

47.0 degrees

43.0 degrees

Average rainfall

4.42 inches

3.75 inches

3.79 inches

Heaviest monthly rainfall

9.61 inches

8.70 inches

7.71 inches

Average mean temperature

Heaviest one-day rainfall

3.35 inches

3.93 inches

3.52 inches

Average snowfall

0.00 inches

0.00 inches

0.00 inches

Heaviest monthly snowfall

0.00 inches

0.00 inches

0.00 inches

Heaviest one-day snow total

0.00 inches

0.00 inches

0.00 inches

through early November. Although cold winter air
begins building in southern Canada around this
time, it is usually trapped across the northern United
States and pushed east by the polar jet stream. Also
in the autumn, tropical air begins to retreat slowly to
the Gulf of Mexico. This places Northern Kentucky
between two very active storm tracks, the polar jet
stream and the subtropical jet stream. Meteorologically, it is termed a split-flow, and it keeps the
weather somewhat quiet in this region for a span of
about six weeks. With the exception of a dying tropical system that may be pulled north, rainfall is quite
limited, making these three months the driest of the
year. It is also around this time that autumn foliage
brings a brilliant spread of colors, with peak colors
arriving by mid-to-late October. This timing coincides properly with the average first frost of the season, expected around October 13.
A second severe-weather season is possible
during the late autumn. Although storms are not
as frequent as in the spring months, isolated severe
outbreaks are somewhat common. Periodically,
colder blocks of air will begin their surge southward and create some rough and dangerous
weather conditions locally. Large temperature
swings and contrasts during this transitional period should be noted. Many local forecasters have
not overlooked the tornado potential during this
time of the year. Although less common in autumn, tornadoes have spawned in this region just
before the first snows of the winter hit the ground.

November brings with it the first true signs of winter and its snow potential.
Average first trace of snowfall: November 7
Average first .10 inch of snowfall: November 21
Average first 1 inch of snowfall: November 28
Winter: Meteorological Season December 1
to February 28
When compared nationally, the winter months in
Northern Kentucky are considered mild. Historically, there have been some exceptions, but big
snowy periods and extreme cold spells are truly
rare during these months and usually last only for
a week to 10 days. For the most part, the winter
season is the cloudiest of the year, and frequent
passing snow showers or wintry mixes of rain,
snow, sleet, and freezing rain eventually mount to
an average snow total of 23.7 inches. January is the
snowiest month on average at 7.9 inches.
Prevailing winds during this period are from
the northwest, with cold-spell intervals followed by
brief periods of sunny and milder days. Data indicates record high temperatures for these months
ranging from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. This illustrates just how mild winters can be locally. Ironically, the month of January, which may be considered the “dead of winter,” posted one of the warmest
temperatures of the season in 1950: 74 degrees on
January 25. However, the month of January also
posted the coldest temperature of all time: −25

FALL METEOROLOGICAL SEASON

September

October

November

67.4 degrees

55.7 degrees

44.7 degrees

Warmest monthly temperature

102.0 degrees

92.0 degrees

83.0 degrees

Coldest monthly temperature

31.0 degrees

16.0 degrees

0.0 degrees

Average rainfall

2.82 inches

2.96 inches

3.46 inches

Heaviest monthly rainfall

8.61 inches

8.60 inches

7.51 inches

Average mean temperature

Heaviest one-day rainfall

3.19 inches

4.30 inches

2.47 inches

Average snowfall

0.00 inches

0.40 inch

1.30 inches

Heaviest monthly snowfall
Heaviest one-day snow total

0.00 inches
0.00 inches

6.20 inches
5.90 inches

12.10 inches
8.70 inches

WEATHERBY, DENNIS W.

degrees on January 18, 1977 (see Blizzards and Severe Winter Weather).
Storm tracks are critical to how much snow falls
during an event within this area. Clippers screaming out of southern Canada can provide brief but
intense snows ranging from 2 to 4 inches followed
by breezy, colder days as winds rush in from a northwesterly direction. Bigger snows actually come from
the southwest, predominantly spawned in the state
of Texas. Deep low-pressure systems dig south out
of the Rocky Mountains, then eject northeasterly.
Gulf of Mexico moisture surging out ahead of the
approaching storms creates a great setup for larger
snowfall totals. Lake Michigan and Lake Erie provide enhanced lake-effect snows in northern parts
of Indiana and Ohio, but in most cases that moisture is limited and those winds are not strong
enough to push heavy totals as far south as Northern Kentucky.
Some of the most memorable severe-weather
events for an entire year have occurred during this
three-month cycle. Two that stand out the most are
the blizzard of 1978 and the flood of 1937. The
blizzard of 1978, which occurred during January,
is a memorable one for most people. Its impact was
felt not only locally but regionally, affecting several
states during a two-day span and beyond. An estimated 7 inches of snow was recorded in Northern
Kentucky within a 48-hour period, but this total
did not come near to the heaviest snowfalls for the
area during a 24-hour period: 12.8 inches January
6–7, 1996; 12.6 inches February 4–5, 1998; 11.0
inches December 8, 1917;10.0 inches December 22,
1883; and 9.8 inches March 22, 1968.
The difficulties that occurred with the monumental 1978 storm and the days that followed were
twofold. The early days of 1978 had already been a
very cold and snowy period. Snow depths were at
around 14 inches by January 21, just four days before the official blizzard arrived. Area roads were
still recuperating from what had been a tough few
weeks. The blizzard brought the cities of the region
to a dangerous standstill. The two key elements that
combined to make this storm so historic were heavy
pockets of snow and incredible winds. Other names
used for this blizzard were “Storm of the Century,”
“White Hurricane,” and the like. Although Northern Kentucky did not experience the full wrath of

wind and heavy snows, the brutal cold air that followed and the large snowdrifts caused several weeks
of delays for incoming store supplies and required
school closures. The Ohio River iced up in many
locations locally, thereby delaying shipments by
water until the cold air receded.
Another memorable weather phenomenon occurred in the late winter months of 1937. It had little
to do with snow and much more to do with incredible rains in quick succession. The setup of a nearly
stationary front, several storm systems, and heavy
training (rain movement west to east) inundated
the Northern Kentucky region. Although flooding
is a common occurrence in and around river cities
during the late winter season, to this day nothing
rivals the Ohio River flood of 1937. It remains the
largest mass of water to gather along the banks of
the Ohio River; water levels crested from 20 to 28
feet above flood stage, beating the previous flood
record set in February 1884 by nearly nine feet.
From January 13 through 25, 1937, rain poured
across the region, with some 6 to 12 inches recorded. The semifirm to frozen wintertime ground
facilitated extensive fast-moving runoff, which inevitably pushed down to the rivers. Excessive
rainfall totals were unheard of for this time of the
year, and January 1937 remains as the wettest
month ever recorded for the Northern Kentucky–
Cincinnati area, with 13.68 inches. The end result
was dramatic, as thousands were left homeless
locally.
Ahrens, C. Donald. Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere. St. Paul, Minn.: West,
1993.
Bonnifield, Paul. The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and
Depression. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico
Press, 1979.
Clark’s Kentucky Almanac and Book of Facts. Lexington, Ky.: Clark Group, 2006.
D’Aleo, Joe. “25th Anniversary of the 1978 Blizzards,”
Intellicast, February 3, 2003. www.intellicast.com
(accessed August 18, 2006).
Dorman, Karla J. “No Ordinary Blizzard,” StormSpinner, December 11, 2002. www.authorsden
.com (accessed August 18, 2006).
Gibian, Jay. “Blizzard of ’78, What Happened in Ohio:
A Meteorologist Review,” UPI Broadcast Special,
February 17, 1978. www.bceo.org (accessed August
18, 2006).

WEATHERBY, DENNIS W. (b. December 4,
1959, Brighton, Ala.; d. September 15, 2007, Fort
Thomas, Ky.). Dennis Weatherby, an inventor, scientist, and educator, developed a stain-resistant
lemon-scented composition used in Cascade liquid detergent while employed as an engineer at
Procter and Gamble (P&G) in Cincinnati. His invention was granted a patent in 1987 and is used in
most commercial lemon-scented cleaning products that contain bleach.
Weatherby is the son of Willie James Weatherby
Sr. and Flossie Mary Dickinson Weatherby. His interest in consumer products goes back to his childhood curiosity over the identically shaped Pringles
potato crisps stacked in canister packages. Part of a
household of nine older siblings, he was encouraged
to pursue his dreams, one of which was to become a
professional football player. He was awarded a football scholarship to Central State University, a historically black institution, in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Three chemistry department faculty members mentored and inspired him, and he graduated from
Central State University with a BS in chemistry in
1982. He completed an MS in chemical engineering
from the University of Dayton in 1984 and then
joined the P&G engineering team.
In 1989 Weatherby returned to Central State
University to teach, advise, and recruit students in
its new International Center for Water Resources
Management. His efforts contributed to the water
program’s 400 percent increase in student enrollment and its more than 80 percent rate of retention. He became an assistant professor of water
quality at Central State University in 1994.
Weatherby completed his PhD in educational
psychology at Auburn University in Alabama, focusing on student retention. He continued his success with retention and recruitment for minority
engineering students as the school’s first director of
the minority engineering program, where he was
appointed assistant dean for minority affairs at Auburn University in 1996. Subsequently, he headed
retention and recruitment initiatives for PhD students as associate dean of the graduate school at the
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind., during 2004 and 2005. In autumn 2005, Dennis
Weatherby and his family moved to Northern Kentucky, where he became the associate provost for

WEBB, GARY S. (b. August 31, 1955, Corona,
Calif.; d. December 10, 2004, Sacramento, Calif.).
Gary Webb, the son of a military family, dropped
out of journalism school in order to become an investigative reporter with the Kentucky Post during
the late 1970s and early 1980s. Among his top stories was a series he did on crime in the coal industry
in Kentucky, which involved a murder along Monmouth St. in Newport.
Webb always sought out the roots of corruption
and was known in the trade as a street reporter. He
lived along W. 11th St. in Covington, where in 1983
he shot a person in the leg who was breaking into his
car to steal a tape player. He later worked for the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, before moving west to the
San Jose Mercury News. In 1990 Webb was part of a
reporting team that shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake in California. In
1996 in the Mercury News, he alleged that drug traffickers in the 1980s had sold tons of crack cocaine in
Los Angeles while funneling millions of dollars in
profit to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras.
Later, much of what he reported was discredited.
In December 1997 he quit his job as a reporter
and began to write the book Dark Alliance: The
CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion (1999). He also went to work in California
in state government in the late 1990s and was a
member of an audit committee investigating former California governor Gray Davis’s award of a
$95 million no-bid contract to the Oracle Corporation. In 2004 he was found dead of a gunshot
wound to the head in his Sacramento home. His
death was ruled an apparent suicide.
“Gary Webb, 49, Former Reporter for Post,” KP, December 13, 2004, A10.
Straub, Bill. “Wounded Suspect Convicted of Theft,”
KP, July 21, 1983, 9K.

beth Meyers Weber. In the 1870s the family moved
to Newport, where they operated a family grocery
store at Fift h and Isabella Sts. Edward, Christian,
and their younger brother, Morrison, attended
public schools, graduating from Newport High
School. It is believed that none of the three attended college. Though Edward and Christian
Weber had no formal architectural training, they
started a company called E.A. & C.C. Weber, Architects. Their brother, Morrison, was not a partner but worked for the company in some capacity.
Edward and Christian served more as administrators than designers in their firm. They offered a
wide range of ser vices, including real estate acquisition, site development, architectural design, and
construction. At the height of its success, the Weber brothers’ company employed a large staff of
architects, designers, draftsmen, and builders and
also subcontracted some of their work to outside
specialists. Their company drew the plans for numerous buildings in Kentucky, including the Governor’s Mansion in Frankfort, the State National
Bank in Frankfort, the Lafayette Hotel in Lexington, Eastern State College in Richmond, the Covington Trust Bank at Sixth St. and Madison Ave.
in Covington (see Huntington Bank), the residence of Kentucky governor Ruby Laffoon (1931–
1935), the Briarcliff Subdivision in Fort Thomas,
the Fourth District School in Newport, and three
local high schools: Highlands High School,
Holmes High School, and Newport High
School. The firm also designed several churches
in Kentucky, including the First Baptist Church,
Fort Thomas. In Maysville, they were the architects of many of the city’s school buildings, as well
as the Montgomery Ward store (see Department
Stores), the Bank of Maysville, the Security
Bank, the Kirk Apartment Building, the O’Keefe
Building, and the Odd Fellows Temple Building.
The firm’s most notable project was the Governor’s Mansion in Frankfort, which was actually
designed by one of the Webers’ associates, John
Scudder Adkins. Edward Weber had a long and
successful career as a politician. He served as
chairman of the Campbell Co. Republican
Party, successfully directing the Northern Kentucky campaigns of Senator Frederick A. Sackett
and Kentucky governor Flem D. Sampson (1927–
1931). Edward Weber also served in the Kentucky
legislature, from 1908 to 1910. Some believe that
his political connections may have played a part in
his firm’s being chosen to design the Governor’s
Mansion. Edward Weber was a longtime member
of the Newport Elks Club and was a Past Master of
the Masonic Order. He died on November 16,
1929, at age 54, in his home at 21 Carolina Ave. in
Fort Thomas. After Edward’s death, Christian’s
son Stuart K. Weber was brought into the firm,
and the company name was changed to C.C. and
S.K. Weber, Architects. Christian Weber retired
from the firm in 1950; ownership of it then passed
from the Weber family. Christian died on February 2, 1954, at age 75, in his home at 40 Chalfonte
Pl. in Fort Thomas. Both Edward and Christian
Weber were interred in Evergreen Cemetery in
Southgate.

WEEK DAY SCHOOL OF RELIGION. The
Week Day School of Religion is a released-time religious education program offered to elementary
school children in Covington and Ludlow. The curriculum includes nondenominational moral instruction based on Judeo-Christian principles. William Wert, a Gary, Ind., school superintendent,
started the movement in 1914. He believed in educating the whole child and was convinced that the public schools were not giving enough moral and religious training, so he invited local ministers to teach
courses for those students who desired to be “released,” for one hour each week. Today, about 250,000
students across the United States are leaving their
school buildings each week to attend released-time
Bible courses. More than 1,000 of these courses are
in operation in 32 states. It is believed that the school
in Northern Kentucky is one of the oldest.
In March 1922, with the support of H. S. Cox,
superintendent of Covington Public Schools (see
Covington Independent Schools), ministers
and laymen from 20 churches met to discuss the
formation of the Community Council of Religious
Education. During a meeting at the Madison Ave.
Presbyterian Church on June 6, 1922, the council
was organized; the articles of incorporation were
signed on June 19. On June 29 the council met and
appointed a committee to work with the Covington Board of Education to formulate plans to release children for attendance at the Week Day
School of Religion. The first classes met on February 23, 1923, with 250 students enrolled. Through
the years, students in the Kentucky cities of Bromley, Covington, Crescent Springs, Erlanger, Fort
Mitchell, and Ludlow have attended the school.
During the 2005–2006 school year, courses were
held only in Covington and Ludlow. Willard L.
Wade, who was an executive of the Covington
YMCA and active in that organization for more
than 40 years, was also involved with the Week Day
School for a long time. Principals have included
Lila Pearl Attig, Debby Audry, Bernice Bowen,
Helen Budd, Violet Detwiler, Catherine Lantz, Lula
Jane Lee, Esther Lomb, Genevieve Morgan, Rita
New, Martha Reed, Wrenda Taylor, and Gloria
Wedding. The school is supported entirely by donations from local churches and individuals.
New, Rita. Interview by Sandy Banta, July 6, 2005,
Covington, Ky.
“Willard Wade, Kentucky Y Leader for over 40 Years,”
KE, October 18, 1883, C2.

Sandy Banta

WELCOME HOUSE OF NORTHERN KENTUCKY

WEHRMAN, WILLIAM E., SR. (b. July 12,
1904, Ludlow, Ky.; d. February 5, 1997, Fort Mitchell, Ky.). Judge William E. Wehrman Sr. was born
and raised in Ludlow. He studied law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1931. He married
Genevieve Reynolds in October 1932, and they
had six children, Barry, Gregory, Mark, Mary Agnes, Paul, and William E. Jr. William Wehrman Sr.
served as Kenton Co. attorney from 1938 to 1945
and as Kenton Co. judge (now judge-executive)
from 1946 to 1962. Along with his sons Barry,
Gregory, and William Jr., he operated a law firm
called Wehrman and Wehrman. Judge Wehrman
was a practicing lawyer in Northern Kentucky for
more than 66 years. He also served on the board
of directors of the Kentucky Federal Savings and
Loan Company. Judge Wehrman became a close
friend of U.S. Senator Alben W. Barkley, a Kentuckian, and that friendship led to the acquisition
of federal funding for construction of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. After a long illness, William Wehrman Sr.
died in his Fort Mitchell home at age 92. Funeral
ser vices were held at the Blessed Sacrament
Church, and burial was in St. Mary Cemetery in
Fort Mitchell.
“Editor’s Corner,” Ludlow News Enterprise, November 6, 1958, 2.
“Former Judge Helped Land Airport for N. Kentucky,”
KE, February 8, 1997, 1C.
“Judge William Wehrman, Helped Create Airport,”
KP, February 6, 1997, 14A.
“Silver Anniversary,” KTS, October 21, 1957, 3A.

WEINTRAUB, MORRIS (b. May 14, 1909,
Newport, Ky.; d. January 19, 1996, Cincinnati,
Ohio). Morris Weintraub, a prominent lawyer and
a Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, was one of the six children born to Hyman
and Mollie Dolnickoff Weintraub. The Weintraubs
were part of a massive migration of eastern European Jews to the United States around 1900. Hyman Weintraub lived for several years in New York
City and then moved to Newport in 1906. He entered Campbell Co. politics and served both as a
constable and as a jury commissioner.
Morris Weintraub was educated in local
schools and then became an attorney in Newport.
He represented a wide variety of clients, including
community leaders and gambling figures. Like his
father before him, Morris Weintraub was involved
in Democratic politics; he served in the Kentucky
Senate from 1940 to 1942 and in the Kentucky
House of Representatives from 1946 to 1960, leading that body as Speaker of the House from 1958
until 1960. He married Justine Anness in 1945,
and they had two children. Weintraub and his wife
owned property in Newport and his law office was
there, but some of his critics claimed that he actually lived in Cincinnati, making him ineligible to
hold political office in Kentucky. However, his residency was never challenged in court and he continued to serve. Weintraub was the last president
of the United Hebrew Congregation of Newport
and also the founder of the Yavneh Day School in
Cincinnati.

After his wife died in 1994, Weintraub lived
in Florida for a while but later returned to Cincinnati, where he died at age 86 in 1996. He was
buried in the Menorah Cemetery, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Hicks, Jack. “Secrets Died along with Colorful Lawyer,” KP, January 24, 1996, 1–2K.
Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky General Assembly Membership, 1900–2005. Vol. 2.
Frankfort, Ky.: Legislative Research Commission,
2005.
“Morris Weintraub,” KP, January 23, 1996, 8A.
Reis, Jim. “Synagogue Once Stood on 5th Street in
Newport,” KP, December 10, 2001, 4K.

WELCOME HOUSE OF NORTHERN
KENTUCKY. Founded in 1982 by a coalition of
churches and Rev. William Mertes, Welcome
House Inc. of Northern Kentucky is a Covingtonbased ser vice organization that works together
with the community to provide ser vices to individuals and families who are either homeless or at
risk of becoming homeless (see Homelessness
and Homeless Shelters). In the early 1980s, there
was a growing need in Northern Kentucky to provide assistance to the economical ly disadvantaged.
In 1980 Mertes, then director of Catholic Social
Ser vices (see Catholic Charities), and others began to develop a comprehensive plan for churches
in the area to manage the constantly increasing
needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Welcome
House was the result.
The first two programs developed by Welcome
House were Emergency Assistance, designed to
take care of food, rent, utilities, medical needs,
clothing, and personal hygiene, and the Emergency
Shelter. Michelle Budzek and Sister Mary Beth
Schwing (now Mary Beth Gregg) were codirectors
overseeing the operations of the organization. Welcome House hopes to eradicate homelessness by
serving both those without homes and those who
lack the means to obtain food and basic necessities.
In 1982 the Emergency Assistance Center
opened. It provides meals, cleaning and household
supplies, and personal care items to individuals and
families with low, limited, or fi xed incomes who often do not have the funds to pay rent each month.
These clients could be referred to as the “working
poor.” If potential clients appear to need further assessment, they are interviewed by an intake counselor to determine the need for assistance and plan
for a solution. The intake counselors receive an average of 15 calls and 2 or 3 walk-ins per day.
The Welcome House [Emergency] Shelter
opened in 1983 at 141 Pike St. in Covington in response to the increasing numbers of homeless
women and children. The clients’ average stay at the
shelter is four weeks. While at the shelter, families
are provided with other ser vices to help foster their
independence, such as transportation, necessary
medications, mental health assistance, and referrals to other resources. Welcome House remains
the only shelter exclusively for women and children
in the region. Previously, the Benedictine Sisters
housed homeless women at 519 Russell St., Covington, and Welcome House worked in cooperation

945

with that group. In 1988 an additional building at
205 Pike St. was renovated to provide more space
for the shelter at Welcome House.
Since 1983 Welcome House has continued
evolving to meet its goal of eradicating homelessness and breaking the cycle of poverty. In 1986 the
Protective Payee Program, led by Sister Cathy Bauer,
was implemented to address the problems of persons with chronic mental illness or physical disability. This program is a comprehensive system of financial and budgetary case management ser vices
for these individuals. The ser vice helps individuals
to manage their own resources better and to live independently, thus eliminating the need for emergency assistance and emergency shelter. In 1991 the
Stabilization Program began, and its name was
changed to Family Case Management in 1995. Welcome House recognized that providing clients with
economic support was not always adequate. Without emotional support, many individuals would be
unable to become self-sufficient. Family Case Management provides individual counseling, mentoring, and support, with a goal of leading families toward independence. Often, the case manager advises
about housing options and assists in the application
process or may suggest alternative housing or referral to other agencies.
Welcome House began employment ser vices in
1997 with a pilot employment program for Social
Security recipients. In 1998 the program expanded
to include former welfare recipients. Today it serves
300 people each year. Clients often have minimal or
inconsistent work histories due to physical and
mental disabilities, inexperience, or lack of transportation. This program seeks to break down barriers to employment by providing individualized
assessment and coaching, as well as outreach to employers for placement and retention.
Linda Young came to Welcome House as a program coordinator in 1988 and became executive
director in 1995. In 1996, in partnership with
HUD and the Kentucky Housing Corporation,
Welcome House renovated two abandoned apartment buildings at 1116 Greenup St. in Covington;
the Gardens at Greenup provides affordable housing and on-site support ser vices for families to assist them with their goal of self-sufficiency. It includes a 20-unit apartment complex in which
families may stay for up to six years while progressing toward the goal of financial independence. Eligible clients are families who commit to regular
meetings with their case manager, career planning,
and a specific plan for self-sufficiency. In 2000
Gardens Center was opened. Located directly
across the street from the apartments, it features
a licensed day care center, a community meeting
room, and a computer lab.
The Homeless Ser vices Project, begun in 2000,
serves the needs of homeless men in the Northern
Kentucky community by helping clients secure
mental health treatment, substance abuse recovery, other benefits such as Social Security, and employment assistance.
Welcome House has grown enormously in the
number and quality of ser vices it offers. It now receives United Way funding and government grants,

946 WELDON, NETTIE
and it stages many fundraising events sponsored
by Welcome House volunteers and community
friends. Its goal continues to be moving those at
risk from a “crisis” lifestyle to stability and, ultimately, economic empowerment. Welcome House
retains its connections to its founding churches.
Welcome House of Northern Kentucky. www
.welcomehouseky.org (accessed June 1, 2005).

WELDON, NETTIE (b. March 3, 1881, Warsaw,
Ky.; d. January 18, 1958, Warsaw, Ky.). Nettie Weldon was a practicing registered pharmacist in
Warsaw for 26 years during the time when pharmacy was a profession dominated by men. She was
the daughter of Richard and Margaret Turpin Weldon and a lifelong resident of Warsaw. In 1928
Benjamin Kirby Bailey employed her in his business, the B. K. Bailey Drug Store. She obtained her
pharmaceutical education from Bailey under the
“apprentice system” then in place in rural Kentucky. In the minutes of the January 21, 1932,
meeting of the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy, it
was reported that there were 11 applicants for the
licensure exam. Nine of them passed, including
Nettie Weldon. At that time Nettie was age 26.
Never married, she worked for Bailey as his relief
pharmacist until her death in 1958.
Warsaw Independent Newspaper, January 23,
1958, 1.

Judith Butler Jones

WERNWAG, LEWIS (b. December 4, 1769, Alteburg, Württemberg, Germany; d. August 12, 1843,
Harper’s Ferry, Va. [now W.Va.]). Lewis Wernwag
arrived in Philadelphia from his native Germany in
1786. Once in the United States, he turned his talents to building machines and designing bridges.
Early in his career, he invented a machine to make
whetstones, and in 1809 he laid the keel for the first
frigate constructed at the Philadelphia Navy yard.
After building two lesser bridges, Wernwag created
his masterpiece across the Schuylkill River near
Philadelphia in 1812. This wooden structure was a
single arch with a span of 340 feet, thought to be at
the time the longest in the world. The behemoth became known as the Colossus of Fairmount and
made Wernwag famous. He went on to build 29
other bridges; two attributed to him were built in
Mason Co., Ky., while he resided briefly in Mayslick.
Both of these bridges—one over Lee’s Creek and one
over the Licking River—were destroyed during the
Civil War. In about 1826 Wernwag moved to
Harper’s Ferry, Va., where in 1833 he built his last
bridge, a span over the Potomac River for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1835, while living in
Maysville in a home that he had built, he began construction on the Mayslick Christian Church.
During that project, he moved to Mayslick again,
next door to the church, and today that home is
known as the Wernwag House. Wernwag died in
1843 in Harper’s Ferry, Va.
Benson, John Lossing. Harper’s Encyclopedia of
United States History from 458 a.d. to 1912. Vol.
10. New York: Harper, 1912.

WESLEY CHAPEL METHODIST CHURCH.
Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church is located in southern Campbell Co. along Ky. Rt. 10, a
few feet from the Pendleton Co. border. Three roads
intersect here, Shaw-Goetz Rd., Wesley Chapel Rd.,
and the Flagg Springs Turnpike (Ky. Rt. 10). The
first church building was a log cabin, built in about
1830, when the congregation was first organized.
This log building was covered with clapboards and
sat near today’s brick church building. The brick
church standing today was built in 1856. Its dimensions are 30 by 40 feet, and there are four approximately nine-foot-high windows on each of the long
walls, allowing for maximum sunlight inside. The
two doors at the front of the church were used, one
by men and one by women, according to the custom when the church was new. The inside ceiling is
14 feet high and is covered with pressed tin. The
“theater type” wooden seats probably were added
after 1900. The exterior walls, 18 inches thick, were
built of bricks handmade and fired on-site. Rev.
James M. Jolly, a Baptist minister and a brick mason, oversaw the construction of the building. The
bricks were not fired as hard as today’s bricks, a fact
that led to a major structural failure many years
later. The outside roof is steeply pitched and covered
with tin. At the front is a small bell tower, which was
originally open to the weather except for its small
roof. The bell was installed around 1892. By 1880,
there were 198 church members, and Sunday school
was conducted regularly. There is a cemetery on
three sides of the church that appears to be as old as
the building.
Electricity was added sometime in the 1920s
or 1930s. During a funeral in the 1950s, the wood
floor collapsed under the weight of the casket,
and the floor was then replaced with concrete. At
the same time, a metal fence and a metal arch in
front of the building were added. In this period,
there were also many large locust trees growing in
front of the building, where picnics were occasionally held.
The congregation declined in number, but the
building continued in ser vice until November
1993, when it was damaged by a heavy rain. The
rain soaked the soft bricks at the rear of the church
(a place where the stucco had broken and partially
fallen off ) and caused two-thirds of the structure’s
wall to collapse. This event occurred shortly after
church ser vices had ended one day. Because the
wall was not a load-bearing wall, the building did
not totally collapse. Cora Sabie, a member of the
church, asked the Campbell Co. Historical Society
for help. A subsequent examination of the damage
revealed that the wall could be repaired but that the
repairs would be costly and time-consuming. By

that time, the United Methodist Church headquarters had already closed the building and wanted it
demolished. A group of former church members
and the historical society launched a campaign to
save it and initiated discussions with leaders of the
Methodist Church, who eventually agreed to sell
the damaged building for one dollar to the independent board that oversaw the cemetery. Through
newspaper appeals, money was raised, and a local
brick mason, Ray Seiter, agreed to fi x the damaged
church wall.
In spring 1994, the repair work on the building
was begun. Volunteers did much of the work. A
roofer was hired to fi x the roof and to build weatherproofing louvers for the bell tower. Donated
paint was used to finish the paint job on the outside of the building. The inside was still in disrepair, but the building had been saved. From 1994
until 2003, the building remained in this condition. In 2004 a local couple planned to marry. The
bride had attended Wesley Chapel Methodist
Church and wanted to be married in the church
building. Permission was granted for the couple to
use the church for their wedding ceremony, if
money could be raised and the inside of the building restored. Another appeal to the public for monetary donations went out, this time to finish the
work left undone in 1994.
Money did come in, and work to refurbish the
interior of the church was begun. Then it was
learned that the bell tower was in such bad shape
that the bell had collapsed onto the ceiling beneath
the tower. A roofer again was hired to rebuild the
bell tower, through the efforts of Marvin Record
and Ken Barbian. Two months of volunteer work
followed that brought the old church into a new
chapter of its existence. Cleaning, painting, and
repairs renovated the interior. The couple was married in the newly remodeled church on July 31,
2004, before a capacity crowd. Wesley Chapel now
quietly awaits its next ser vice.
Campbell Co. Historical Society. Campbell County,
Kentucky, 200 Years, 1794–1994. Alexandria,
Ky.: The Campbell Co. Historical Society, 1994.

Kenneth A. Reis

WESLEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.
In preparation for starting a Methodist church in
Ludlow, a group of 7 concerned citizens began
holding weekly prayer meetings in private homes
in September 1853. One month later, Sunday night
ser vices were added, and the number of worshippers increased to 12. In his will, Israel Ludlow, the
city’s founder and namesake, bequeathed lots on
which to build both a Methodist and a Christian
Church. In 1857 the small Methodist group began
construction of a church on their lot, which was on
the north side of Oak St. However, work was soon
halted owing to lack of funds and fear of the looming Civil War. Several years later, the Ludlow Odd
Fellows Club completed the building. Exactly how
they acquired the title is unclear. However, the club
permitted both the Methodist and the First Presbyterian churches to hold ser vices there. The City
of Ludlow also used the building as a city hall.

WEST END NEWPORT

In 1889, after worshipping for 36 years without
a church building, the congregation purchased a
lot at 319 Oak St., across from the Odd Fellows
Hall. There they built the present-day Gothic Revival church. By the mid-1920s, church and Sunday school attendance had increased enough that
additional space was needed. In 1927 a two-story
addition was constructed to the rear of the church,
where two classrooms, a kitchen, an office, and a
pastor’s study were located. A street-level addition
was made to the church in 1952, which contained
several Sunday school classrooms, a nursery, and a
fellowship hall. Wesley United Methodist Church’s
centennial celebration was held in the new addition the following year. Members refurbished the
sanctuary in early 1979, in preparation for a homecoming celebration held on August 12 of that year.
Since the founding of the Ludlow Wesley United
Methodist Church, more than 50 pastors have
served the congregation. Several of the recent ones
have been women.
“Wesley Church Celebrates since 1853,” News Enterprise, May 31, 1989, 3.
“Wesley United Methodist Church.” www.wesleyumc
.info (accessed December 14, 2006).
Wesley United Methodist Church Celebrating 150
Years, 1853–2003. Ludlow, Ky.: Wesley United
Methodist Church, 2003.

WEST, CARL (b. January 14, 1942, Cincinnati,
Ohio). Carleton Lewis West, an accomplished journalist, is the son of John Albert and Dorothy Lewis
West. While a student at Campbell Co. High
School, Carl West was the school’s outstanding
football player in 1960. As a college student, he had
varied short-term work experiences. One of them
was working on his family’s 300-acre farm in rural
Campbell Co., near Grants Lick along the Licking
River; he also participated in management of the
farm. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1966.
West became an award-winning journalist in
Covington with the Kentucky Post under demanding editor Vance Trimble, but he is probably best
known as the founder of the popular Kentucky
Book Fair. Held in Frankfort each fall, the fair
draws writers and book enthusiasts from far and
wide and raises money for libraries in Kentucky.
Football and farm work cemented the trait of
tenacity in West. He was a persistent reporter, unearthing information on pollution in the Licking
River and corruption in a federal housing agency
and extracting truth from elected officials. During
summer 1966 West became a general-assignment
reporter for the Kentucky Post. He covered Boone
Co. politics in 1967 and Newport’s changing era in
1968 and became the paper’s Frankfort bureau
chief in 1969. Moving up again, West became an
investigative reporter for the Scripps-Howard News
Ser vice, the owner of his newspaper, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for stories on MedicaidMedicare Fraud; he was nominated a second time
for a series on congressional travel abuses. In 1979
he became editor of the State Journal in Frankfort.
His news-writing peers elected him to the Kentucky
Journalism Hall of Fame in April 2003.

WEST, JUDY M. (b. June 9, 1941, Madison Co.,
Ky.; d. February 19, 1991, Chicago, Ill.) The distinguished Kenton Co. judge Judith Moberly West was
one of four children born to Harold and Joyce
Clouse Moberly. She was educated in local schools
and graduated from Madison Co. High School in
Richmond. She then attended the University of
Kentucky at Lexington, where she earned her BA in
1962. Later that year, she married attorney Larry C.
West, who became a partner in the Kenton Co. law
firm of Ware, Bryson, West, and Kummer. The
couple had three children. In 1977 Judy received
her JD from the Chase College of Law, at Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights,
graduating in the top 10 percent of her class. In
1980 Kentucky governor John Y. Brown Jr. (1979–
1983) appointed Judy West a Kenton Co. district
court judge; she was the first woman in Kentucky to
hold a district court post, and she was reelected to
that position three times. In February 1987, Kentucky governor Martha Layne Collins (1983–1987)
appointed West to the Kentucky Court of Appeals,
where she became the highest-ranking woman
judge in Kentucky history at the time. During her
tenure as a judge, she was also a very caring mother
and became a child advocate. She helped organize
the Hope Cottage Guild and served as its first president. That group was responsible for the establishment of a permanent shelter for abused, neglected,
and dependent children.
During Judge West’s many years of public service, she was an active member of the Prichard
Committee for Academic Excellence in Kentucky
and the Kentucky Tomorrow Commission. In 1987
West was named one of Northern Kentucky’s Most
Outstanding Women. She also won the Prichard
Committee award for Academic Excellence and in
1989 was named the Outstanding Alumnus of
Northern Kentucky University. In 2002 the Kentucky Women Remembered organization honored
West with a watercolor exhibit, which was placed
on permanent display in the state capital building
at Frankfort.
West died of breast cancer at age 49, in the Bernard Mitchell Hospital at the University of Chicago.
A memorial ser vice was held at the Fort Mitchell
Baptist Church, Fort Mitchell, and burial was in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Erlanger.
“Judge Named NKU Outstanding Alumnus,” KP,
January 27, 1989, 3K.
“Judge West Loses Cancer Fight,” KP, February 20,
1991, 1K.
“Mourners Laud Warmth, Courage of Judge West,”
KP, February 23, 1991, 13K.

David Sorrell

WEST COVINGTON (Economy, Ky.). This West
Covington neighborhood has been a part of the

947

City of Covington since 1916. Before that time,
West Covington was an independent city. The
neighborhood lies along the Ohio River and is
bordered by Ludlow to the west, Ridge St. to the
east, and Devou Park to the south.
In the 1840s the land that is now West Covington was owned by Israel Ludlow, who decided to
commission a plat for a small village on the property in 1846. The little community soon came to be
known as Economy because of the frugality and
industriousness of its residents. In 1858 the commonwealth of Kentucky incorporated the little
town under the name West Covington. That same
year, the first public school in the area was established (after West Covington was annexed to Covington, this school became known as Eleventh
District School). By 1875 the population of West
Covington had surpassed 1,000. The community
was diverse, having among its residents immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany,
France, and Italy. This growth of the town resulted
in an attempt by Covington to annex it, but the
residents of West Covington resisted the efforts of
their larger urban neighbor.
Churches played an important role in the lives
of the West Covington people. The first congregation organized in the community was St. Ann Catholic Church, which completed a church building on
Main St. (now Parkway Ave.) in 1864 and later replaced it by a Gothic Revival structure, dedicated in
1932. For many years the parish sponsored a parochial school, where initially students were taught by
the Sisters of St. Francis; the Sisters of Divine
Providence replaced them in 1891. The St. Ann
School closed in 1981. Protestant residents of the
community established two congregations. Epworth Methodist, organized in 1877, has a church
building on Highway Ave. that was completed in
1953. In 1892 the German Protestants of the town
established St. John German Evangelical Protestant
Church (later St. John Congregational Church) and
in the same year built a frame church in the Gothic
style on Highway Ave.
The issue of annexation to Covington became
serious in 1916. Many prominent West Covington
residents supported the measure, seeing that there
were many advantages of annexation: professional
fire protection, access to the excellent Covington
Public Schools (see Covington Independent
Schools), lower taxes, and increased property values. In November 1916, West Covington residents
voted in favor of annexation, and West Covington
ceased to exist as an independent city.
Kenton Co. Public Library. “West Covington.” www
.kenton.lib.ky.us/genealogy.html.
West Covington Local History File, Kenton Co. Public
Library, Covington, Ky.

David E. Schroeder

WEST END (NEWPORT). The West End of
Newport, a collection of urban neighborhoods, is
bounded by Monmouth St. on the east, the Licking
River on the west, the Ohio River on the north, and
the CSX railroad tracks on the south. Located there
were the two major institutions that first defined

948 WESTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AND SEMINARY SQUARE NATIONAL HISTORIC DISTRICT
Newport: at the confluence of the Licking and
Ohio rivers, the Newport Barracks, and farther
south along the eastern bank of the Licking, the
rolling mill owned by several steel companies in
succession.
Beginning in the early 19th century, the presence of the military post made Newport’s image,
like it or not, that of an army town. The U.S. Army’s
early expansion into the American West of that
day (Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri) was provisioned out of the stores of the barracks. The army
relied on river transportation to move troops,
equipment, and supplies.
Later, with the arrival of the steel industry to
the West End during the mid-19th century, streets
lined with the small homes of steelworkers appeared. The steel industry depended upon the railroad as well as the rivers to move raw materials and
coal to the mill and to deliver its finished product.
The West Side Hotel (the modern-day West Side
Café) at 11th and Brighton Sts. was built to accommodate the transient housing needs of those associated with the steel business. The 1930s-era songwriter and bandleader Tommy Ryan once labored
beside the mill’s hot furnaces, as did his father, who
put in a 50-year stint at the plant.
The West End was the home of Andrews Field
(Wiedemann Park), where the Wiedemann Brewing Company baseball team played, where the
first night high school football games in Northern
Kentucky were staged, and where circus trains unloaded tents and red-nosed clowns for their short
stays in town. These special trains borrowed the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad siding that
had been built in the middle of Lowell St. to serve
the rolling mill.
In Rough Riders Park, at W. Fift h St. and the
Licking River, long before any floodwall got in its
way, baseball greats Cy Young and Satchel Page reportedly played in exhibition games. The West End
is where the Green Line built a car barn for its
fleet of streetcars, at 11th and Brighton Sts. across
from the West Side Hotel. From there it was just a
short hop across the adjacent Shortway Bridge to
Covington.
The two rivers were not always kind to the West
End. The floods of 1884, 1913, and 1937 covered
the area and motivated the suburbanization that
eventually occurred. The floodwalls along the Licking and Ohio rivers are products of the early 1950s,
too late to prevent the flight of residents. Simultaneously, Appalachians settling in Northern Kentucky found jobs at the mills and inexpensive housing in the West End, adding another brushstroke to
the image of its landscape. Some rowdy bars and
saloons developed: the Bridge Café, Corky’s, Mabel
and Q’s, and the TC Café. Where the barracks once
stood, a federal subsidized housing project, Peter G.
Noll Homes, was built and remained for almost 53
years; it was razed in 2006 to be replaced by riverview high-rise condominiums. Father south, entire
city blocks have been leveled for industrial uses. It
was often said that blight had become common in
the West End.
Until the 1980s, the Newport High School
was located at Eighth and Columbia Sts. Newport

Central Catholic High School opened at Fift h
and Columbia Sts. and later moved to Ninth and
Isabella Sts., operating there until the mid-1950s.
All these streets lay within Newport’s West End.
The Corpus Christi Catholic Church served
the area until roughly 2000, and the Immaculate
Conception Catholic Church had closed earlier
(1969). Several Protestant churches existed in the
West End: the Ninth St. Methodist Episcopal
Church, the Ninth St. United Methodist
Church, the Salem United Methodist Church,
the St. Paul United Church of Christ, and the
York St. Congregational Church; and some are
there today: the Church of the Nazarene, the First
Baptist Church, and the St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church. The Campbell Co. Courthouse has been
at Fourth and York Sts. in Newport’s West End since
the 1880s. The Wiedemann Brewery, Newport’s
largest employer for a long time, was at Sixth and
Columbia Sts. until it closed in 1983. The Trauth
Dairy survives and prospers at 11th and Monmouth Sts.
Today, the neighborhood association that represents the southern part of the West End as part of
the Newport Citizens Advisory Council derives its name, Buena Vista, from Gen. James Taylor Jr.’s early surveys and subdivision names in
this part of Newport. The Buena Vista Neighbor
Association district is bounded by Monmouth St.
on the east, the Licking River on the west, 12th St.
on the south, and Ninth St. on the north. This association, like most of the nine similar neighborhood groups in Newport today, is slowly trying to
restore its part of town to its former glory.
Neff, Judy L, and Peggy Wiedemann Harris. Newport. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2004.
“Newport West End May See Growth,” KE, February
15, 2000, B1.
Purvis, Thomas L., ed. Newport, Kentucky: A Bicentennial History. Newport, Ky.: Otto Zimmerman,
1996.

WESTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AND SEMINARY SQUARE NATIONAL HISTORIC DISTRICT. The officials
and others associated with the Western Baptist
Theological Institute played a major role in the early
history of Kenton Co. and in the development of the
city of Covington. Organizers of this, the “first Baptist seminary west of the Alleghenies,” purchased
around 350 acres south of the original town of Covington. Afterward, they subdivided and sold lots.
Sales of most of the acreage funded development
and construction of a special 12-acre seminary campus in Covington, at the highest elevation between
Madison Ave. and Russell St. and Robbins and 11th
Sts. The campus was elegantly landscaped as a public gathering place and thus helped to encourage
surrounding new home construction. However, the
seminary held sessions only from 1845 to 1853.
Meanwhile, in 1841 Covington annexed into the
city all the seminary’s properties to 12th St. and,
later, the remainder of the theological institute’s
three subdivisions.
The origins of the Western Baptist Theological
Institute in Covington were linked to a meeting of

Baptists in Cincinnati in November 1833. There,
they formed the Western Baptist Educational Society, which chose a site for a new Baptist seminary
“immediately back of the city of Covington.” In
1835 this society purchased more than 28 acres
from Alfred Sandford, 193 acres that were known
as the Fowler farm, and 120 acres of the adjacent
Kyle farm. The acreage purchased started at the
Licking River and Saratoga St. south of Eighth St.,
ran west to Banklick St., south to 11th St., west to
present-day Holman Ave., south with Holman
Ave. to around 15th St., then to approximately 16th
St. and Madison Ave., north to Madison Ave., east
to Byrd and Garrard Sts., north with Garrard St. to
11th St., and then east to and north along the Licking River.
The seminary project from its inception was
subject to an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion. Orga nizing trustees from the Western Baptist Educational Society included 74 Baptists from
Ohio, 18 from Kentucky, 8 from Indiana, 1 from
Illinois, and 7 from “the east.” The new seminary
was founded to serve the needs of students from all
the trans-Appalachian states in what was considered the nation’s West; the majority of the organizers, moreover, were unfriendly to slavery. So
to mitigate and blunt criticism concerning their
stance on slavery, the Northerners who were founders had agreed to locate the seminary “on southern
soil” in Kentucky.
In 1840 the Kentucky legislature “by special
act” incorporated the Western Baptist Theological
Institute “exactly one week” after creating a new
county, named Kenton, west of the Licking River.
The seven trustees appointed at the new seminary
were Thatcher Lewis, Samuel W. Lynd, Ephraim
Robins, and John Stevens from Ohio; J. L. Holman
from Indiana; and Cave Johnson and Henry Wingate from Kentucky.
After renting some of the seminary’s lands to
farmers, the trustees, under the leadership of
Ephraim Robins (1784–1845), decided to sell off excess property. Between 1839 and 1841, they raised
$29,000 from these sales, retaining 198 acres plus
the 12 acres for the seminary campus. Eventually,
the seminary’s original property encompassed more
than 1,100 lots. The seminary’s lots extended on
both sides of the old Banklick Rd., leading into a
narrow block at 15th St., and were centered at 10th
and 11th Sts. from a line west of the Licking River to
a line just short of Willow Run Creek. The 1851 city
map of Covington shows subdivisions located on
land sold off by the seminary filling out virtually all
the space north of 14th St. as well as the space north
of 15th St., except for a large block on the southeast
corner belonging to O. R. Powell and a southwest
corner marked “Cemetery,” where Linden Grove
Cemetery had been dedicated and opened in 1843.
At the Licking River this map shows the Milward
and Oldershaw Slaughter House between Robbins
and 11th Sts., the Licking Rolling Mill between 11th
and 12th Sts., and a sawmill and another slaughterhouse south of 12th St.
Philip S. Bush (ca. 1795–1871), a speculator in
commercial and residential lots, and his partner,
Humphrey Watkins, had sold the land used for the

WEST SIDE COVINGTON

Milward and Oldershaw Slaughter House and with
his son John S. Bush had helped finance the Licking
Rolling Mill. Bush St., named for the Bush family,
was dedicated through the middle of seminary subdivision lands, running from the Licking Rolling
Mill almost to Willow Run Creek. Bush’s brotherin-law Cave Johnson was a seminary trustee.
Subdivisions from the Licking River to Willow
Run Creek bearing the name of Humphrey C.
Watkins (1797–1849) appear on maps. A Virginia
native, Watkins moved from Cincinnati to Covington in 1839 to help with the seminary projects.
A brick maker and supplier, he became an agent for
the new Linden Grove Cemetery; Watkins St. was
dedicated nearby. Both Watkins and Philip S. Bush
were prominent members of Baptist churches in
Covington.
Other seminary officials for whom Covington
streets were named include J. L. Holman (Holman
St.), Samuel W. Lynd (Lynn St.), and Robins (Robbins St.). Robins, an insurance company agent
from Suffield, Conn., had proposed the fundraising strategy to finance the seminary. Superintendent Robins oversaw development of the Linden Grove Cemetery and the 12-acre landscaped
square on which the seminary complex was built.
By 1843 about 150 other buildings already stood
near the seminary’s new campus.
Alfred Sandford, son of an early Kentucky congressman, earlier had built the Sandford House on
the campus grounds. Sitting back prominently
from the east-side curb of Russell St., it was the palatial mansion that became the seminary president’s
house. That structure and the “Professor’s” house,
on the southwest side of the campus along 11th St.,
are still standing. The Western Baptist Theological
Institute constructed a large main building at east
11th St. and Madison Ave. that had classrooms on
the first floor and dormitories above.
Seeking to create both a department of theology and a good classical school, the seminary in
1844 chose three highly qualified men for its beginning faculty: Rev. R. E. Pattison, DD, from
Massachusetts, as president and professor of Christian theology; Rev. Asa Drury as professor of
Greek; and Ebenezer Dodge as professor of Hebrew and of ecclesiastical history. Soon, however,
resentment to Pattison festered, because he was
friendly to abolitionism, as were the majority of
the institution’s trustees. This group represented
the views of many of the Northerners who had primarily organized and funded the seminary project. In 1844, at a state convention of Baptists in
Alabama, delegates passed resolutions stating that
Baptist slaveholders should have equal privileges
with other Baptists. In response, the Baptist Foreign Mission Society, of which Pattison was a
member, considered a resolution to ban unreformed slaveholders from missionary work. Pattison was also suspected of authoring articles for the
Baptist Publication and Sunday School Society arguing that church officials should not tolerate
slavery.
In 1845 proslavery Baptist delegates from
Southern states rallied at Augusta, Ga., where they
split from Baptists in Northern states to form the

Southern Baptist Convention. When the general
(Northern) Baptist board met in Providence, R.I.,
they also recommended separate Northern and
Southern associations. Soon thereafter, at a meeting in Georgetown, Ky., an association of Kentucky Baptists passed a resolution recommending
against further support of the seminary in Covington, given the current conditions there. In response, Dr. Pattison was discharged and replaced
by Dr. Samuel W. Lynd. Some of their concerns, at
least for the moment, satisfied by Pattison’s dismissal, the Association of Kentucky Baptists in
1848 voted approval of Lynd, who took office January 1, 1849.
Ultimately, what determined the seminary’s fate
was a resolution introduced more than a year earlier
by a seminary trustee, proclaiming that slavery was
“divinely instituted.” The resolution received only
four votes from the board, whose members now
numbered at least 14. Apparently without the
knowledge of the antislavery Northerners, advocates who supported slavery then persuaded the
Kentucky legislature again to expand the seminary’s
board of trustees effective January 28, 1848, and to
name the 16 new members. All of the new appointees had to be Kentucky citizens. In March, however,
the old board of trustees refused to recognize the
new one and refused to turn over the seminary’s
record books. A Kentucky lower-court judgment
favored the newly appointed trustees. In 1854 the
Kentucky Circuit Court reversed this ruling in favor
of the old board. As this bickering continued, financial support for the seminary decreased. In 1855 the
decision was made to divide and dispose of the
Western Baptist Theological Institute’s assets.
In 1853 the 12-acre campus was already changing dramatically as the Covington and Lexington Railroad laid tracks through its middle. In
1868 the Diocese of Covington (see Roman Catholics), which had purchased the old classroomdormitory building, remodeled the building and
dedicated it for use by the St. Elizabeth Hospital
(see St. Elizabeth Medical Center). The hospital
moved in 1914, and the old classroom-dormitory
building on the seminary’s campus was torn down
in 1916.
Lynd, after serving at the seminary in Covington, joined the Baptists in Georgetown, Ky. The
seminary divided and then sold its remaining assets to the Baptist Educational Society at Georgetown, Ky., and to Northern Baptists at the Fairmont
Theological Seminary of Ohio. By 1856 Rev. Asa
M. Drury was serving as president of the board of
examiners and superintendent of schools in Covington (Covington Independent Schools). By
1860 he had become principal of the Covington
High School. The moral issue of slavery at the
Western Baptist Theological Institute tolerated no
compromise. It previewed Kentucky’s divided status in the Civil War as a border state. Kentucky
supported the Union, but afterward some of its
most influential citizens and leaders aligned themselves with the South.
In 1980 part of the area once owned by the
Western Baptist Theological Institute was listed on
the National Register of Historic Places as the

949

Seminary Square Historic District. The district
covers about 18 acres and is bounded on the north
by Ninth St., on the south by 12th St., on the west
by the rear property lines along Banklick St., and
on the east by railroad tracks.
Map of the City of Covington. Covington, Ky.:
Rickey, Kennedy, and Clark, 1851. From actual survey, ca. 1842.
Ware, Orie S. “The Western Baptist Theological Institute.” Papers of the Christopher Gist Historical
Society, vol. 1, presented November 22, 1949.
Weldon, Alexandra. “Historical Connections and
Ideological Divisions,” Bulletin, Kenton County
Historical Society, October 2001.

John Boh

WEST SIDE (COVINGTON). An estate owned
by James Riddle in 1810 first defined the boundaries of the West Side of Covington. His property
extended from Craig St. to Willow Run Creek and
from the Ohio River beyond Riddle St. (now Ninth
St.) to the Covington and Lexington Turnpike
(now Pike St.). Riddle also operated a licensed ferry
(see Ferries) on the Ohio River at the foot of Ferry
St. (now Main St.) that competed with the older
ferry in Covington in the business of transporting
hogs and other farm products to Cincinnati markets. By 1827, however, the Bank of the United
States had foreclosed on a mortgage it held on Riddle’s 580 acres in Covington. The bank subdivided
the lands and began naming streets in Covington;
it called one Philadelphia St., after the location of
the bank’s headquarters. Cincinnati civil engineer
A. W. Gilbert recalled that in about 1830 his father
had rented 25 acres and Riddle’s mansion on the
West Side of Covington, possibly the antebellum
residence still standing on Emma St.
Thomas W. Bakewell (see Bakewell Family)
and William S. Johnston acquired riverfront lots
and the ferry’s license from the Bank of the United
States. Bakewell, a brother-in-law of famed naturalist John J. Audubon and an inventor of industrial equipment, during the 1830s built a mechanized hemp bagging factory that made wrappings
for shipping cotton bales. After the national depression of 1837, Bakewell had to sell or assign his
ownership in his property on Covington’s West
Side and in the bagging factory.
In the early 1840s, James G. Arnold, a wealthy
businessman, owned a mansion at the western end
of Seventh St. (demolished in the 1970s). An early
schoolteacher and county and city official, Arnold
built the Park Hotel at Sixth and Philadelphia Sts.
in West Side Covington (now restored as a law
firm’s offices). After his death, his homestead was
subdivided into what became Dalton St. The Englishman William Bullock, owner of Elmwood
Hall in Ludlow, held acreage in the West Side extending across Willow Run Creek. At the time,
many gentlemen of means liked to retreat to residences in Kentucky to escape what was termed
“the grime of Cincinnati.” They could also invest in
their own pristine West Side projects. The wave of
German and Irish immigrants that settled in Covington’s West Side during the 1840s also helped
stimulate growth.

950 WFBE AM
In 1849 Covington industrialist Alexander L.
Greer recorded a plat that marked new lots in the
West Side along Willard, Main, Eighth, and Seventh Sts. Greer, who was a central figure with the
Covington and Lexington Railroad, and his
partners also built the Covington Locomotive
and Manufacturing Works, a huge complex at
Third and Philadelphia Sts. After Greer’s death, his
homestead addition was subdivided in 1888 into
lots on Greer, Craig, Willard, Eighth, Pike, and
W. Ninth Sts.
In 1873 John Mitchell, James Tranter, and associates purchased the old bagging-mill property
near the mouth of Willow Run Creek and transformed it into the Mitchell and Tranter Rolling
Mill. Around 1900, Republic Iron and Steel, a national trust, acquired the mill. Complaining of inadequate facilities, in 1907 the trust sold the property, ending production in what had come to be
known as the mill neighborhood. In 1914 the Houston, Stanwood & Gamble Company purchased
property at the Mitchell and Tranter Rolling Mill
site, where they manufactured steam engines and
boilers for heating buildings and commercial laundries and for powering southern and Caribbean
mills.
In 1876 a sawmill at Second and Main Sts. in
Covington’s West Side sold lumber, “farm and
well” pumps, and tubing regionally. In the same
year Creen, Culbertson, and Company, a sawmill
located in the West Side at the foot of Main St., sold
dressed lumber, flooring, laths, and shingles. It
ceased operations by 1910, but the newer Vogg
Planing Mill nearby was in business until about
1920. Throughout the 1800s, supply and repair services for steamboats and other needs in the river
trade provided business opportunities and jobs for
the residents of the West Side. Some of the businesses that prospered during the steamboat era
were machine shops, foundries, and several other
small specialty shops catering to the needs of the
steamboat business.
By the 1870s, an old burial ground at Craig and
Sixth Sts. in Covington’s West Side memorializing
the city’s pioneer days was overrun and obsolete.
Covington decided that removing the remains
would allow space for a new railroad right-of-way
to Cincinnati and enable Sixth St. to be made into a
through street. The railroad track was routed diagonally across Johnston, Sixth, Bakewell, and Main
Sts., at street level, so that crowded trains would
not impede street and sidewalk traffic. Also, some
of the local mills in town sought to add spurs and
railroad switches for direct access to rail ser vices.
In 1888 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad
and its associates committed to constructing a
railroad toll bridge that, for a nominal fee, would
be open to pedestrian use. Longtime complaints
about the monopolistic toll rates on the John A.
Roebling Bridge had resulted in lobbying for a
“free bridge.” The railroad bridge, which because of
its nominal toll was virtually a free bridge, later
also provided commuters from Covington’s West
Side with a direct route to their jobs in Cincinnati.
The bridge, and the elevated approaches leading to
it, further separated the West Side from Coving-

ton’s main commercial district, fortifying the
identity of the West Side.
In 1892 Willow Run Creek, a tributary of the
Ohio River, flowed through a western valley of the
neighborhood. Until the completion of flood control projects following the flood of 1937, the creek
valley was subject to backwaters during flooding. It
was therefore not suited for housing and instead
was utilized for ballparks and as a junkyard. The
construction of I-75 (see Expressways) replaced
the Willow Run, leaving only a small section as a
ballpark.
Second only to Madison Ave. in commerce,
Main St. in Covington’s West Side has always seen
intense business activity. Immigration during the
19th century fi lled up the city’s West Side, bringing
European architecture, shops, and crafts. Houses
sat on narrow lots, and high population density
made walking a convenience. The neighborhood
was also served by inexpensive streetcar ser vice.
Workers on the West Side commuted to manufacturing jobs in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.
Children walked to school, returned home for
lunch, then walked back to school. Housewives
walked to butcher shops and bakeries around the
corner. Iceboxes provided limited shelf life, but the
ice wagon came daily to fi ll orders specified on a
card placed in a window. Conveniences included
chilled milk and the morning newspaper at the
doorstep before dawn; meat wagons; men on routes
to sharpen knives and scissors; and a junkman to
take away old rags and other discarded items. There
was a market house located on Sixth St. in the West
Side until its property was converted into a city
park after 1907. Local vendors, on what remained
of Sixth St., continued thereafter to host weekly
sales of seasonal fruits and vegetables, which
women from the neighborhood bought in large
quantities to can. Since the late 1950s, the John R.
Green Company has sold school supplies in its
mammoth headquarters on W. Sixth St., opposite
the park.
The German and Irish immigrants of the West
Side supported a host of saloons, stores, and institutions. In 1876 the Covington City Directory listed
some 120 saloons in the area. Until Prohibition,
they were popular hangouts for men, with entrances
for women located at the rear of the buildings. As
an enticement to customers, local saloons frequently
offered free food along with purchases of beer. Citizens also gathered in the saloons to play cards and
to place illegal bets on horse races. At Prohibition,
some of the saloons shifted to become soda fountain operations selling soft drinks and candy. Seven
confectionaries operated on Main St. in 1920–1921,
extending from the 200 to the 800 block. After Prohibition, the saloons that reopened were referred to
as bars, restaurants, or cafés. Eleven restaurants,
lunchrooms, and cafés operated in 1956 in the 100
through the 900 blocks of Main St. Saloons, and
later cafés in the area, hosted informal social clubs
where members could gather to pass the time. Trade
unions and insurance and building and loan associations (see Savings and Loan Associations)
met on the second floors of commercial buildings.
The West End Odd Fellows Hall (see Independent

Order of Odd Fellows) still stands at 731 Main St.
Two other prominent social organizations, the
West End Mutual Aid and the West End Welfare
Association, occupied buildings in the West Side in
1923. West Side German culture became a victim of
the anti-German hysteria of World War I. For
instance, Bremen St. in the West Side, a quaint narrow street with buildings crowding the sidewalks,
was renamed Pershing St. The Turners Club, which
before World War I had the German name Turnverein, on Pike St. in the West Side remains open as
an athletic and social facility, a product of the German culture’s emphasis on intellectual and physical
health.
The West Side of Covington was substantially
Catholic and once included the German St. Aloysius Catholic Church, which burned in 1985,
and the Irish St. Patrick Catholic Church,
which was demolished for urban renewal. The German Reformed Church, changed to “Grace” in
1918 (see Grace United Church of Christ), was
a major Protestant congregation. The Main St.
Methodist Church, almost equal in architectural
scale to the Catholic churches in Covington’s West
Side, is also closed.
In the 1960s, urban renewal took its toll on the
West Side. Motels, gasoline stations, and other similar commercial ventures replaced residences and
the former Heidelberg Brewery plant at Fourth and
Philadelphia Sts. North of Sixth St. everything became commercial. In the 1970s, Main Strasse was
created to revitalize the historical West Side. Goebel
Park’s Carroll Chimes Tower in Main Strasse is
now a Covington West Side landmark.
Boh, John H., and Howard W. Boehmker. Westside
Covington. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Historical Society, 1980.
Geaslen, Chester F. Strolling along Memory Lane.
Newport, Ky.: Otto, 1971–1974.
Reis, Jim. “Tracing the Roots of Willow Run,” KP,
March 11, 1991, 4K.
Smith, Allen Webb. Beginning at “the Point”: A
Documented History of Northern Kentucky and
Environs, the Town of Covington in Par ticular,
1751–1834. Park Hills, Ky.: Self-published, 1977.
Tenkotte, Paul A. “Rival Cities to Suburbs: Covington
and Newport, Kentucky, 1790–1890,” PhD diss.,
Univ. of Cincinnati, 1989.

John Boh

WFBE-AM. Radio station WFBE began operations at Seymour, Ind., but in October 1926 was sold
and a radio broadcasting license was issued to the
Park View Hotel in Cincinnati. Although located in
Cincinnati, the station was important to Northern
Kentuckians because of the remote broadcasting
conducted from Covington in 1928.
Northern Kentucky was without a radio station at this time; in 1928 there were only three radio stations in Kentucky, WHAS and WLAP at
Louisville and WFIW at Hopkinsville. Radio was
becoming extremely popu lar and had been proven
to encourage growth and revenue in areas supported by a station. It was also well known that
local stations promoted sales of radio apparatuses.
Through the efforts of the owners of the Edward P.

WHALLEN, JOHN H.

Cooper radio and electric shop in Covington and
the management of station WFBE, the first
remote-control radio studio in Northern Kentucky was designed and constructed with the latest equipment. The fi rst broadcast was scheduled
for Thursday, March 29, 1928, at 8:30 p.m. The
mayor of Covington, Thomas F. Donnelly, delivered the opening address, announcing that
“Covington should be proud of the fact that it has
its own radio station and that all events of interest
in the city and Northern Kentucky would be
broadcast.” Edward Cooper announced the upcoming schedule for the station, and then the station presented musical selections by a local band,
the Latonia Night Hawks, and an hour of popu lar
dance music by the Earl Fuller orchestra of New
York. In the months that followed, many entertainers visiting the nightspots of Northern Kentucky were heard during daytime and evening
broadcasts over the station. Cooper later reported
that he had received hundreds of letters from the
entire Northern Kentucky area in support of the
station and its broadcasts. WFBE’s remote broadcasts were heard for well over a year, until Covington finally became the hometown of a new radio
station, L. B. Wilson’s WCKY, in September 1929.
During the 1930s WFBE was sold to Scripps Howard, and it became station WCPO.
“Mayor Heard over Mike at New Studio,” KTS, March
30, 1928, 2.
Nash, Francis M. Towers over Kentucky. Lexington,
Ky.: Host Communications, 1995.
“Radio Studio to Be Opened in Covington,” KTS,
March 28, 1928, 2.

John E. Leming Jr.

WFTM. Shortly before World War II, two enterprising tobacco warehousemen, Charles P. Clarke
and James M. Finch, began building a radio station
at Maysville. Before the station could be completed,
the war broke out, and construction was put on
hold. After the war, Clarke and Finch applied for a
broadcasting license; with help from friends in
Washington, D.C., a license was granted on September 10, 1947. The original call letters assigned to the
radio station were WKYO, and it operated at 1240
on the AM radio dial.
The broadcasting studios were planned for
construction in front of the Standard Tobacco
Warehouse in Maysville, and the equipment and
towers were purchased. The first station manager,
William Betts, who had been selected during the
war years, brought several years of personal broadcasting experience to the station. The station was
to be placed on the air at 12:01 a.m., January 1,
1948. Shortly before the station’s debut, Finch discovered that a broadcasting license had been
granted to a police station at Buffalo, N.Y., using
the call letters WFTM. He thought those call letters would best fit his and Clarke’s station because
they would stand for “Worlds Finest Tobacco Market,” so he struck a deal with the station owner in
New York for a switch of call letters, which was approved by the FCC (Federal Communications
Commission), and the new station in Maysville officially became WFTM.

At 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 1948, WFTM came
on the air. One of the first musical selections played
was “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette,” written by Kentuckian Merle Travis. Program director
Gene Waters, formerly of radio station WSAU in
Bloomington, Ind., and chief announcer Hal Sargraves, formerly from station WPAY in Portsmouth, Ohio, kicked off programming, staying on
the air for the first 24 hours.
WFTM was an immediate hit with local and
more distant listeners, and its first successful program, True to the Farm, dedicated information
and agricultural reports to a heavily populated
farming community. Col. J. Scott True, who created the program, received national recognition for
it. After his death, the show was taken over by Bill
Stewart; Stewart won the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s
award of top broadcaster in 1977. Broadcast regularly from its inception, True to the Farm was aired
for the 10,000th time in 1980.
Over the years, many well-known local broadcasters have been heard over the airwaves of WFTM,
including Bud Boyd, Nick Clooney, and Walt Maher. In 1965 WFTM added WFTM-FM, located at
95.9 on the radio dial. Today, WFTM-AM and
WFTM-FM broadcast to more than 369,000 homes
in the Ohio River Valley, with north-south coverage
ranging from Hillsboro, Ohio, to Morehead, Ky.,
and east-west coverage from Williamstown, Ky., to
Portsmouth, Ohio.
“To Have Broadcasting Station Here,” Maysville (Ky.)
Public Ledger, September 10, 1947, 1.
“WFTM Will Go on Air Officially at 12:01 AM.,”
Maysville (Ky.) Public Ledger, December 31,
1947, 1.

John E. Leming Jr.

WHALLEN, JOHN H. (b. May 1850, New Orleans, La.; d. December 3, 1913, Louisville, Ky.).
John Henry Whallen, an Irish Catholic entrepreneur and a Democratic Party boss, was the son of
immigrants Patrick and Bridget Burke Whallen.
When John was a young boy, the family moved
from New Orleans to Maysville, Ky., and later to
Newport. By the time Whallen was 11 years old, the
family was living at Grants Lick, where he came
into contact with some Confederate Army recruiters. He persuaded the recruiters to allow him to
enlist even though he was so young, and he thus
became one of the youngest soldiers ever to serve in
the Confederate Army. He was assigned to the Kentucky 4th Cavalry, the same unit in which Absolom
Columbus Dicken, William Francis Corbin,
and Squire Grant (see Grant Family), also from
southern Campbell Co., served. Whallen was a gunpowder carrier and later a courier for Gen. John
Hunt Morgan. Gen. Basil Duke and Capt. Bart
Jenkins described Whallen as one of their best soldiers. Whallen served for about three years, mostly
in Virginia. For his military ser vice, the Daughters
of the Confederacy presented him with their highest award, the Cross of Honor. State officials in Kentucky also honored him by making him a Kentucky
Colonel, and thereafter he was affectionately known
as Colonel Johnny. At the end of the Civil War,

951

Whallen moved to Saratoga and Williamson (now
11th) Sts. in Newport, where he worked as a horsecar
driver and as a lieutenant with the Newport Police
Department. He also began operating a bar on what
later became Liberty St.
In 1880 John Whallen and his younger brother
James opened a vaudev ille showplace, the Buckingham Theater, in Louisville. The brothers soon
learned that family-type businesses did not return
sufficient profit, so they switched to the bigger and
bawdier type of burlesque shows. As their business
grew, they expanded their holdings by purchasing
the Empire and Casino Theaters in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
and began operating a chain of burlesque theaters.
To protect his somewhat unsavory businesses,
Whallen resorted to boss rule. He contributed to
the emerging labor unions, paid off key officials,
gave police free admission to his clubs, and set up
assistance programs to help needy families. Many
accused him of subverting the election process by
paying people to vote and engaging in other ballotbox irregularities. In addition, he is said to have
handpicked most of the Democratic candidates
running for public office in Louisville. He also
controlled the awarding of more than 1,200 city
patronage jobs. Whallen felt that these moves
would help protect his businesses from governmental controls and periodic protests by citizens
groups. Although never elected to public office,
Whallen virtually ran the City of Louisville from
his Green Room at the Buckingham Theater. He
became immensely popular, especially among Irish
and German Catholics, blue-collar workers, and
immigrants. In 1905, confronted with considerable evidence of wrongdoing, the Kentucky Court
of Appeals removed from office all recently elected
officials and appointed newspaper publisher Robert Bingham the temporary mayor. Thus ended
more than 30 years of Whallen’s boss rule, and
Louisville politics eventually returned to some
semblance of normalcy.
Whallen was married three times. His first wife
was Marian Hickey, by whom he had three children, Ella, Nora, and Orrie. His second wife, Sarah
Jane Whallen, was childless. His third wife, Grace
Edwards Goodrich, had a daughter, Grace, whom
Whallen adopted. Whallen died at age 63 in his
Spring Bank Park home in Louisville. His funeral
ser vice was attended by numerous friends and politicians, including Kentucky governor James B. McCreary (1875–1879, 1911–1915). Whallen was buried in a mausoleum at the St. Louis Catholic
Cemetery in Louisville. After John Whallen’s death,
his brother James attempted to continue running
their empire but lacked his brother’s charisma and
political acumen. The land on which John Whallen’s home and estate were located later became the
site of Chickasaw Park.
EarthSciences.com. “Colonel Johnny, the Duke of
Buckingham.” www.earthsciences.com (accessed
March 3, 2007).
Gray, Karen R., and Sarah R. Yates. “Boss John Whallen: The Early Louisville Years (1876–1883),” JKS 1
(July 1984): 171–86.
Kentucky Death Certificate No. 6570 (James P. Whallen), for the year 1930.

952 WHEATLEY DALLASBURG
Kentucky Death Certificate No. 32298 (John H. Whallen), for the year 1913.
Military Shoulder Patches of the U.S. “John H. Whallen.” http://ranger95.com (accessed March 3,
2007).

Jack Wessling

WHEATLEY (DALLASBURG). This Owen Co.
hamlet along Ky. Rt. 227, 8.5 miles north of Owenton, is located within what is known as the Dallasburg Precinct. Dallasburg (the town’s name at first)
emerged in 1825, shortly after the county was
formed. The church there, the Dallasburg Baptist
Church, derived its name from the town’s original
name, not the reverse as has long been thought.
The town was incorporated in 1850–1851. The
name of the town’s post office was Dallasburg from
1850 to 1863; then in 1886 the post office was reestablished as Wheatley, honoring Rev. Wesley
Wheatley, the postmaster and a highly respected
citizen of the community. The center of community life is the Dallasburg Baptist Church, which
has long supported Baptist missionary work both
in the state and abroad. Since its establishment in
1851, this church has been home to several multiday series of revival meetings. The village has had
several grocery stores over the years, along with a
bank, formed in 1899. From 1912 to 1951, it had a
high school. Perhaps the most famous person who
came from Wheatley was Rev. W. B. Riley, later of
Minneapolis, Minn., a Baptist minister who was
nationally known during the first third of the 20th
century. Wheatley has often been called the garden
spot of the county.
Houchens, Miriam Sidebottom. History of Owen
County, Kentucky: “Sweet Owen.” Louisville, Ky.:
Standard, 1976.
“Kentucky-Owenton,” CE, March 22, 1899, 8.
Rennick, Robert M. Kentucky Place Names. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1984.

WHIG PARTY. The Whig Party had considerable
support in Northern Kentucky since Henry Clay,
its principal leader, was a Kentuckian. The 1824
presidential election and the agenda of John Quincy
Adams (1825–1829), the new president, created new
lines of demarcation in American politics. The
Whig Party that Adams headed had grown out of
a factious conflict between “radical,” or “Old,” Republicans and the party’s “Madisonian nationalists,” represented by politicians such as Henry Clay
and President Adams. The former group held disdain for the aggressive economic programs sponsored by the latter. The tariffs implemented by the
nationalists to protect American industrial development hurt many southern states’ economies;
internal investments contributed to the expansion of the federal government, to the dismay of
state’s-rights advocates. Many southerners also saw
the Adams administration as antislavery.
Adams and Clay, joined by former Federalist
Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, represented the
National Republican opposition party to the victorious Jackson Democrats after 1828. Henry Clay,
titular head of the National Republican Party,
developed the American System platform, high-

lighted by federally sponsored economic development programs, as a response to Jackson and the
Democrats’ laissez-faire economic approach. These
ideas later became the philosophical basis for the
Whigs.
Clay ran against Jackson for president in 1832
but did poorly in slave states, receiving only 37 percent of the national popu lar vote. The National Republicans disbanded as Clay and other antiJacksonians formed the new Whig Party in 1833.
The formation of the Whig Party signaled the arrival of the second American party system: the
Whigs and the Democrats.
Henry Clay was the Whigs’ most powerful
leader. Known as a great orator, Clay was also labeled “The Great Compromiser.” The Whigs’ two
main southern strongholds were Kentucky and
North Carolina. Because of the impact of Clay’s
leadership, the Kentucky branch of the party enjoyed par ticu lar success, causing the state to be
termed the “Cradle of Whiggery.”
By the late 1830s, Kentucky Whigs controlled
their state’s legislature and governorship. Part of this
party strength had been built upon victories beginning in 1832 when James T. Morehead (1797–
1854) was elected lieutenant governor and Lewis
Sanders (1781–1861) was elected secretary of state.
Morehead, who later practiced law in Covington,
had a distinguished political career, becoming Kentucky’s governor in 1834 and representing the state
in the U.S. Senate as a Whig from 1841 to 1847.
Sanders, of Carroll Co., served as U.S. district attorney from 1834 to 1838, following his term as secretary of state.
The Whig legislative agenda included organizing the Bank of Kentucky and the Northern
Bank of Kentucky to stimulate economic development, investing in turnpikes and navigation
projects on the state’s rivers to improve transportation and communication, and increasing taxes to
fund these projects. These efforts were appreciated
so much by Kentucky voters that Whigs received a
greater legislative majority in 1840 than in 1837.
The Whig Party had a mass appeal in Kentucky
that was stoked by many of the state’s newspapers.
Local voices such as Covington’s Licking Valley
Register, the Covington Journal, and the Maysville Eagle informed the public of every minutia of
party life. Thomas B. Stevenson, a Northern Kentucky native, edited the primary Whig organ in
Cincinnati. These papers were an important aspect
of politics for both Whigs and Democrats.
Although the Whig Party was known nationally as the party of the elite, in Kentucky it found its
strength among wealthy slaveholders in the Bluegrass region, in cities such as Louisville and Covington, and among nonslaveholders in the “poor
farming communities along the Ohio River.” This
alliance was held together by Whigs’ successes in
delivering their platform of internal improvements
in the state, by the stature of several Whig leaders
such as Clay and Stevenson, and by the perception
of many people that the Whig Party was the party
of opportunity. Whigs supported an active, interventionist approach, especially toward economic
development. As long as these differences were

highlighted, the Whigs did well, winning state
elections from the mid-1830s into the late 1840s.
Beginning in the mid-1840s, however, Whig electoral victories became more challenging; and the
party found itself facing more internal divisions
and being outflanked by the Democrats and political splinter groups with more extreme views.
Whig problems in Kentucky became evident in
the state’s 1849 party and constitutional conventions. The failure of the Whigs to take a firm position
on the issue of slavery, instead calling for “popular
sovereignty,” motivated many emancipationists to
leave the party. As the slavery issue grew more intense, more Kentucky Whigs began to leave the
party, many joining the Democrats, who were seen
not only as being more supportive of southern issues, but also more likely to find compromise on the
national level and preserve the Union. Nevertheless,
Whigs in Northern Kentucky still did well at the
polls. In 1849 Whig state senator J. Russell Hawkins
represented the 25th District (Boone, Carroll, and
Gallatin counties), William K. Wall the 29th District (Bracken Co.), and John F. McMillan the 36th
(Mason Co.). In the House, however, Northern Kentucky representation was split. The counties of
Boone and Bracken were represented by Whigs Gabriel J. Gaines and Joseph Doniphan, but Mason
Co. was split, with one representative being Whig J.
McCarthey. Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant,
Kenton, Owen, and Pendleton counties each had
one Democratic representative.
Whigs were forewarned regarding their popularity in the state in 1850 when the new constitution was placed before voters and was approved
overwhelmingly. The new constitution called for
almost all of the state’s elected offices to be on the
ballot in the election of 1851: the governor and the
cabinet, all seats in the House and the Senate, one
U.S. Senate seat, and the entire congressional delegation (10 in all). The turnout in the 1851 election
(71%) was lower than that of 1848 (87%), owing
both to the new constitution’s reduction in the
number of days to vote (from three to one) and to a
residency requirement. In addition, with the constitution adopted, little difference appeared to remain between Democrats and Whigs. Although
nativist sentiment had begun to be felt in Kentucky, Whigs at first distanced themselves from
this element of the electorate. Democrats won the
governorship by less than 1,000 votes, while Whigs
won all other statewide offices, kept majorities in
the State House and the Senate, and gained half of
the congressional delegation.
With the inability of the Whigs to elect Gen.
Winfield Scott to the presidency in 1852, and the
deaths of both Clay and Webster, the party’s national standing ended. Although Whig candidates
continued to be elected to the U.S. Congress until
1856, Kentucky was one of the few states where
Whigs remained a viable political force.
In the 1853 election, Kentucky Whigs retained
a majority in the state legislature and again split
the congressional delegation. Kentucky Whigs and
Democrats remained at a virtual political stalemate, but events were soon to overcome both. On
the horizon was a growing nativist movement, and

WHITE’S RUN BAPTIST CHURCH

underlying all other political issues was the question of slavery.
Antiforeign sentiment had been seen in Kentucky politics as early as 1847. By summer 1854,
however, secret fraternal lodges associated with the
growing nativist movement in America were forming in the state’s larger cities. To the political confusion were added temperance supporters, who were
speaking of running a candidate for governor
(among those mentioned was Norvin Green of Carrollton). Defectors from their parties to the temperance ranks hurt both Democrats and Whigs, but in
particular Whigs seemed to provide the majority
memberships of both the nativists and the temperance movement.
After the local election successes of the nativist
Know-Nothing movement nationally and throughout Kentucky in late 1854 and early 1855, Whig leaders reluctantly acknowledged the death of the Whig
Party and attempted to maintain a political presence by taking over the Know-Nothing Party machinery. Some benefit was gained by this strategy, as
26 former Whigs were elected in slave states to the
national legislature in 1855.
Switching party allegiance to survive politically
was common in the 1850s. John W. Menzies’s political history illustrates the phenomenon. Named
as clerk to the Council in Covington in 1848, Menzies was a Whig; however, by 1855 he had become a
member of the Know-Nothings and was elected
that year to the Kentucky legislature representing
Kenton Co.
Cole, Arthur Charles. The Whig Party in the South.
Reprint. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1962.
“Complete List of Senators,” CJ, September 29, 1849, 1.
Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American
Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset
of the Civil War. New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
1999.
Howe, Daniel Walker, ed. The American Whigs: An
Anthology. New York: John Wiley, 1973.
Poage, George Rawlings. Henry Clay and the Whig
Party. Reprint. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith,
1965.
“The Popu lar Vote,” CJ, August 11, 1855, 2.
“Representatives Elected,” CJ, September 28, 1849, 1.
Volz, Harry August. “Party, State, and Nation: Kentucky and the Coming of the American Civil War,”
PhD diss., Univ. of Virginia, 1982.

J. T. Spence

WHITE, CLARENCE CAMERON (b. August
10, 1880, Clarksville, Tenn.; d. June 30, 1960, New
York City). Clarence White, the son of James W. and
Jennie Scott White, was a world-renowned African
American opera composer and director. White
studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C.,
and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Oberlin,
Ohio) and later spent the years 1908–1911 in London, England, with the black British composer and
conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. White also
traveled to Paris, France. He began his teaching career in the public schools of Washington, D.C., and
then served as director of music at West Virginia
State College at Institute, W.Va. In 1937 he was
named a music specialist for the National Recre-

ation Association, established by President Franklin
Roosevelt (1933–1945) under the Works Progress
Administration. The association offered aid in organizing community arts programs.
In November 1938 White visited Covington to
head a music institute for African Americans in
Northern Kentucky. During the mornings, he conducted several institutes on music at Covington’s
Lincoln-Grant School. The purpose of the institute was to advance the musical interests of the
community and to develop choral and instrumental group participation. Mrs. Sadye L. Dunham, director of the Negro Youth Recreation Association
of Northern Kentucky, was instrumental in bringing White to the community. To keep the community involved, training sessions were held nightly at
the First Baptist Church and the Ninth St. Baptist Church. The training period resulted in a public
concert in which African American spirituals were
featured. In 1960, after a long and successful career
in the opera composition, White died at the Sydenham Hospital in New York City. His most acclaimed composition was his 1932 opera Ouanga,
which was first performed that year by the American Opera Society of Chicago.
“Clarence White, Composer, Was 79,” NYT, July 2,
1960, 17.
“Famed Negro Composer Heads Music Institute,” KP,
November 30, 1938, 2.
Notable Black American Men. Farmington Hills,
Mich.: Gale Research, 1999.

Theodore H. H. Harris

WHITE BURLEY TOBACCO. The first boatloads of Kentucky tobacco went to New Orleans in
the 1780s. By 1839 Kentucky ranked second only
to Virginia in the quantities of locally stemmed
and packed tobacco shipped to England. Sometime during 1858–1859, Bracken Co. grower Laban J. Bradford found a mutated plant that appeared much lighter in color and texture than the
original dark leathery leaf known as red burley. He
saved the seeds and the following year sowed them
in a separate patch. Over the next four years, Bradford selected only the sturdiest plants in that patch
for new seeds. He called the distinct variety white
burley and gave some of the seeds to a neighbor,
George W. Barkley. While Bradford was serving as
president of the Kentucky State Agricultural Society from 1862 until 1863, he noted that Kentucky
had become the largest tobacco-producing state in
the nation.
In spring 1864, Joseph Fore and George Webb
came across the Ohio river from Brown Co., Ohio,
to Augusta, Ky., to obtain tobacco seeds. Barkley
gave the men some white burley seeds, which they
planted on land rented from Capt. Fred Kautz.
Months later, Fore and Webb noticed that their new
tobacco plants had a dirty yellow hue and light texture. This normally was a sign that plants were diseased, and so they burned that crop. The next year,
however, when Webb saw the tobacco growing from
the Kentucky white burley seeds he had brought
back from Kentucky, he recognized that instead of
being caused by a disease, the color and texture represented a definite new variety of tobacco. Webb

953

also found that the new crop developed neither
mold nor rot as red burley tobacco plants did. Better
yet, he could cut down the entire plant, rather than
picking each leaf as it ripened. Webb produced a
crop of 20,000 pounds that commanded top dollar
at the Cincinnati tobacco market in 1866. The following year, he went to the St. Louis Fair and won a
first prize and a second prize in tobacco-crop competitions. When Webb tried to patent what he believed was a new tobacco strain, he failed because
Bracken Co. White burley had already become common in the Ohio and Kentucky region. This adaptable tobacco leaf revolutionized the industry, and
for a brief time, Augusta became a clearing port for
Central Kentucky’s production of white burley tobacco and the biggest market in the district. Steamboats lined the levee at Augusta for a mile and a half,
and Cincinnati soon replaced Louisville as the region’s foremost distributor for Central Kentucky’s
tobacco crops.
“Bracken County Cradle of the White Burley,” Bracken
County Chronicle, October 23, 1930.
Clowes, Jack. “ ‘My Lady Nicotine’ Becomes Cash
Crop with Aid of Frankfort’s Founder,” Lexington
Herald-Leader, August 10, 1969. An article based
on an 1873 article in the Frankfort Commonwealth in which Bradford described his role.
Collins, Lewis, and Richard Collins. History of Kentucky. 2 vols. Reprint, Berea: Kentucky Imprints,
1976.
Heimann, Robert K. Tobacco and Americans. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
Van Willigen, John, and Susan C. Eastwood. Tobacco
Culture: Farming Kentucky’s Burley Belt. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1998.

Donald A. Clark

WHITE’S RUN BAPTIST CHURCH. In
March and April 1810, the Ghent Baptist Church
sent John M. Price and Mordicah Jackson as helpers
to constitute a new church at White’s Run, along Ky.
Rt. 36 in Carroll Co. At least six of the new church’s
charter members came from the church at Ghent.
The White’s Run Baptist Church held its first worship ser vice on April 12, 1810. Meetings for worship
and church business were held in the homes of
members at first. A log structure was then built on
an acre of land donated by the Easterday family out
of the Whitehead land grant, in the community now
known as Easterday.
Members brought their slaves to church, and
the first baptism of a slave, named Nicy, was in July
1812. Baptisms in the early years were conducted
either in the Ohio River or in White’s Run Creek. It
appears that during this period the church obtained
money to pay expenses not through the practice of
tithing but by levying a tax on members; male
members usually paid a higher rate than females
did. The early church believed in disciplining any
member whose behavior was considered to be contrary to Christian beliefs. One of the early controversies occurred at the end of 1822, when charges
were brought against two men for joining a Masonic Lodge. The church declared that the teachings
of Jesus Christ were not compatible with the teachings of the Masons.

954 WHITE’S TOWER
At first, the Baptist Church of Jesus Christ at
White’s Run was a member of the Long Run Association. It later joined the Franklin Association,
and in 1818 it met with other churches to form the
Concord Association.
On May 28, 1842, the congregation moved into
a brick building that had been constructed alongside the old log house at Easterday. In 1900 the
White’s Run Baptist Church and other churches
withdrew from the Concord Association to form
the White’s Run Baptist Association.
In March 1941 electric lights were installed in
the church building, long before many homes in
the area had them. Other improvements include a
new Sunday school annex, added in June 1954;
stained-glass windows, installed in July 1959; a
parsonage, built in 1969; an education-fellowship
building, completed and dedicated in 1984; and a
new lighted sign, erected on the church grounds in
1995.
White’s Run Baptist Church Minutes, White’s Run
Baptist Church, White’s Run, Ky.

Ken Massey

WHITE’S TOWER. White’s Tower is located at
the intersection of Taylor Mill Rd. (Ky. Rt. 16),
Marshall Rd. (formerly Old Decoursey Rd.), and
Ky. Rt. 536 (the Visalia-Staffordsburg Rd.). White’s
Tower is an unincorporated area named for a
white wooden tower built on what is today the
McClure property, just opposite the intersection
of Maverick Rd. and the Visalia-Staffordsburg Rd.
The tower was built during the mid-1800s to observe and record topographic features of Kenton
Co. at the location that was considered to be the
highest point in the county. At that time, there
were no airplanes to aid in the development of
maps. The foundation for the tower still exists,
and persons living in the area today who were
born before the end of World War I remember
seeing the tower. It was torn down during the mid1920s, when airplanes became routinely used in
cartography and as the tower became a liability.
Locals referred to the white tower for a directional
landmark, and the name mutated to “White’s
Tower” after its demise. A grocery, a garage, two
saloons, and a restaurant were located at White’s
Tower until the early 1950s. There was also oneroom school until the consolidation of Kenton
Co. schools in 1929 closed the school and transferred students to the Independence School, four
miles to the west. The current White’s Tower Elementary School was built in 1965 at the intersection of Taylor Mill Rd. and Harris Rd. (Ky. Rt.
536). Also located at White’s Tower are the Durr
Extension Office and the YMCA swimming pool
and soccer fields, all at the intersection of Marshall and Taylor Mill Rds.
“Kenton Co.—Voting Place and Officer,” KP, November 1, 1929, 2.
Reis, Jim. “White Tower Inn Destroyed by Fire,” KP,
March 10, 2003, 4K.
Rennick, Robert M. Kentucky Place Names. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1984.

Pat Workman

WHITE VILLA. White Villa, an unincorporated
community located in rural southeastern Kenton
Co. along Decoursey Pk. (Ky. Rt. 177), takes its name
from the White Villa Country Club. Developed in
1905 from the former Metz farm, the White Villa
Country Club comprises about 150 acres wedged
between the Louisville and Nashville Railroad
tracks and the Licking River, with a one-mile-long
frontage along the river. The club saw itself as a Catholic counterpart to the largely Protestant Ryland
Lakes Country Club located nearby. Several prominent Northern Kentucky business leaders founded
the White Villa Country Club, including department
store proprietors John R. Coppin, Joseph Luhn,
and John A. Stevie. Stevie served as the club’s president for several years until his death in 1930. Initially,
the club’s grounds featured a clubhouse, an icehouse,
and a spacious barn. Affiliated families built summer cottages on the grounds and fished in its lakes.
To serve the spiritual needs of the club’s summer
dwellers, the Diocese of Covington established the
St. Matthew Parish at White Villa in 1909. For several
years, the church held Mass only during the summer months. Since its inception, the White Villa
Country Club has hosted several gatherings including political rallies and Fourth of July celebrations.
“Another New Fishing Club,” KP, January 24, 1905, 1.
“John A. Stevie Is Called by Death,” KP, June 13,
1930, 1.
“To Dedicate a New Church at White Villa,” KP, May
27, 1909, 2.
“White Villa Club Is a Reality,” KP, May 3, 1905, 2.

Greg Perkins

WHITTLESEY, CHARLES W., COLONEL
(b. October 4, 1808, Southington, Conn.; d. October 17, 1886, Cleveland, Ohio). Charles W. Whittlesey, the son of Asaph and Vesta Hart Whittlesey,
designed the defenses of Cincinnati and Northern
Kentucky during the Civil War. His family moved
to Tallmadge, Ohio, in 1813, where he attended
school while living on a farm. Whittlesey graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Pont,
N.Y., in 1831. During his life in northeastern Ohio,
he was a geologist, an archaeologist, a newspaperman, a lawyer, a soldier, an author, and a historian.
His experience with geology certainly proved helpful in the role he played in the Northern Kentucky
region. That is, during the Civil War, as a colonel in
the 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he designed and
built in Northern Kentucky a line of fortifications
extending from Ludlow on the west to the District
of the Highlands (today Fort Thomas) on the east.
The fortifications served as the successful line of
defense for the city of Cincinnati. In September
1862, it was to Whittlesey that the Union Army
looked when it came time to dig in against the
Confederate troops commanded by Gen. Henry
Heth that were threatening the Greater Cincinnati
region. One of the defensive embankments erected
in Kentucky was named for him: Fort Whittlesey
(see Civil War Fortifications), located between
the present-day Covington Reservoir and S. Fort
Thomas Ave. in Fort Thomas. Anyone familiar
with the path of the fortification line can recognize

Whittlesey’s knowledge of earth science at work.
After the war, he returned to Cleveland and continued writing. He composed some 200 articles,
tracts, essays, and reports in many fields, and several of his writings continue to be of value. Whittlesey was buried at Lake View Cemetery on the
east side of Cleveland.
Burial Record from the Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio.
Charles Whittlesey Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.
Van Tassel, David D., ed. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press,
1987.

WIDRIG FAMILY. Louis C. Widrig (1869–1932)
was one of eight children of Thomas A. “Tobias”
and Margaret Feth Widrig. Born in Newport, he
completed his early education in that city and graduated in 1889 from the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy. He was licensed as a pharmacist in Ohio but
returned to Kentucky to open his own pharmacy at
Fifth and Columbia Sts. in Newport. He later had a
number of other business interests. In 1909 he led a
group that purchased the Altamont Hotel and the
Shelley Arms in Fort Thomas. The Altamont was
once a resort known for its mineral water, and both
properties were acquired as part of bankruptcy
proceedings. The plan was to operate them as a
summer resort. Widrig was also a principal stockholder in the Alexandria Turnpike (see Turnpikes,
Campbell Co.), which connected Newport and
Alexandria, he became a part owner of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, and in 1918 he was elected
treasurer of the Cincinnati Exhibition Company.
In spite of leadership changes, he maintained his
share in the company and served as treasurer until
his death. Widrig was a charter member of the
Newport Elks Lodge. When Widrig was in New
York City for a meeting of major league baseball
executives, he was severely burned during a fire in
his suite at the Commodore Hotel on January 31,
1932. He died on March 29, 1932, as a consequence
of the burns and was buried at St. Stephen Cemetery in Fort Thomas. At the time of his death, his
shares in the Cincinnati Reds were appraised at
$13,000. He never married.
Two of Louis Widrig’s brothers were also Newport pharmacists. Tobias J. “Tobe” Widrig (1865–
1922) owned a drug store at Sixth and Washington
Sts. in Newport. He was active in pharmacy and
medical associations and served as a director of the
Newport Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He
died after a long illness and was also buried in St.
Stephen Cemetery; he and his wife had no children. Edwin (also known as Edward) C. Widrig
(1877–1941) graduated from the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy in 1898. He owned a store at
Third and Saratoga Sts. in Newport for many years.
His daughter married John T. Rawlings, Newport
city manager during the Ohio River flood of
1937.
“Louis C. Widrig Dead,” O.V.D.A. Review, April
1932, 2.
“Lou Widrig Dies after Long Fight,” KP, March 29,
1932, 1.

WIEDEMANN, CARL F. (b. May 18, 1892,
Newport, Ky.; d. February 9, 1961, Cincinnati,
Ohio). Carl Wiedemann, the son of Charles F. and
Elizabeth Wagner Wiedemann and a grandson of
the founder of the Wiedemann Brewing Company, assisted in the management of the firm. The
brewery for many years was the largest employer in
Newport. In 1890 George Wiedemann Sr. died,
leaving control of the brewing empire to Carl’s father, Charles.
In 1895 a 17-room three-story chateau, designed by Samuel Hannaford and Sons for Carl
Wiedemann’s grandmother Alice, widow of
George Wiedemann Sr., was completed. It was located at the top of Park Ave. (house no. 1102) in
Cote Brilliante, an up-and-coming city south of
and not yet annexed by Newport. Later, Charles
Wiedemann and his family moved into this home,
which sat on an eight-acre estate. Carl’s mother
died when he was six, and his father remarried in
1908. In accordance with the Wiedemann family’s
manner of living, Austrian craftsmen were brought
to Newport to install and carve the mansion’s interior woodwork. Carl became accustomed to the
finer things in life, such as his family’s having Northern Kentucky’s first private in-ground concrete
swimming pool in the backyard and employing servants of Chinese origin. Gatsbyesque parties were
common at the mansion, as the upper levels of society from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati hobnobbed amid the lush, manicured grounds, nibbling
on specially prepared foods, sipping champagne
and other party beverages, or perhaps playing
shuffleboard.
Carl also had an excellent education; he attended Yale University, where, from 1914 to 1916,
he played left tackle and lettered in football. Somewhat older than most of the other students, Carl
was often seen on dates with a gorgeous Broadway
actress at his side. His every movement seemed to
be tracked by local newspaper society columnists.
He could not even change trains in Washington,
D.C., en route to college, without newspapers back
in Northern Kentucky reporting it.
Carl loved racehorses and racing and owned a
small stable of thoroughbreds. He housed them at
his horse farm in Lexington and soon became a
regular figure on the Kentucky racing circuit. During a trip he made to Keeneland Racecourse in fall
1921, accompanied by the lovely Dorothy M.
Rainey, daughter of one of Newport’s first female
medical doctors, Dr. Louise G. Rainey, a tragic incident took place. Shortly before midnight on October 25, while in Lexington, Dorothy Rainey, clothed
only in a negligee, somehow tumbled from a window of the Lafayette Hotel to the sidewalk below.
The next day, local authorities ruled it a suicide and
released the body for transfer back to Newport, so
as to not inconvenience the Wiedemann family;
there was no mention or apparent concern for the
interests of the Rainey family. Moreover, Rainey’s
fall instantly elevated her status from girlfriend to

fiancée of Carl. His story concerning what happened was lame, but his family’s influential
Lexington-area relatives intervened on his behalf.
Meanwhile, Dorothy Rainey, who had once held
the title of “The Prettiest Girl in Newport,” was sent
back home and buried.
Carl Wiedemann’s racing stable consistently
competed in the best races on the prestigious Kentucky race circuit. In 1922, for example, he had
horses that were nominated to run in both the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville and
the Latonia Derby at Latonia Racecourse in Covington. In 1923, in the Fall Championship at the
Latonia Racecourse, Carl’s horse In Memorium
upset Kentucky Derby winner Zev, only to lose to
Zev a few weeks later in a match race at Churchill
Downs that was so close that its controversial result
was long disputed. Both races had been followed by
race fans with much anticipation, causing Carl
Wiedemann’s name to be catapulted into national
prominence by the dramatic races taking place in
Kentucky.
Also in 1923, with some help from the New
York Times, Carl formally broke up with another
girlfriend. During his days at Yale, he had met Allyn King, a Broadway comedy star and a member
of the noted Ziegfeld Follies. When the relationship was over, Carl was quoted in the New York
paper as saying that he and King were not engaged
and that he “was still a member of the bachelors’
club.” Strangely, in March 1930 King fell to her
death from a fift h-floor window at her New York
City apartment. Carl was nowhere in the vicinity,
but the Rainey incident was mentioned in the news
media’s coverage of King’s death.
On October 25, 1925, Carl Wiedemann married Celia Dooin. By spring 1930 their strained
marital relationship was being detailed by newspapers in Northern Kentucky. However, there is
no record that a divorce took place. Th irty years
later, Carl’s obituary listed Celia as his surviving
wife.
In 1928 the Wiedemann Brewery was prosecuted by the federal government for making alcoholic products stronger than the law allowed. The
officers of the corporation were summoned to appear before the Federal Court in Covington just as
Charles Wiedemann’s health was deteriorating.
Carl did perhaps the noblest thing of his life—he
“took the rap” for his father and the others, paying
a $10,000 fine and completing eight months of a
two-year sentence in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., before returning home for Thanksgiving that year, in what may be one of the first “shock
probation” cases on record. Unfortunately, Carl
did not make it home before his father died of cirrhosis of the liver on November 3, 1928.
Carl’s annual trips to the Kentucky Derby in
Louisville were legendary. In the 1920s, during
Derby week, Carl seemed always to be trying to restore the social good times that had taken place before Prohibition. Louisville’s society blue-bloods
and the ladies of the evening were enthralled as Carl
arrived in Louisville with a cold, fully loaded beer
truck, whose contents they consumed before Carl
left town.

955

While Carl was helping to manage the Wiedemann Brewing Company, there were many lawsuits.
In 1927, for example, just as the federal government
was about to charge him and the corporation, Carl
was sued by the Frank Herschede Company of Cincinnati ( jewelers) for the recovery of $996 due for
merchandise. In November of that year, even though
Carl was no longer racing any of his horses, the
Early-Daniel Company of Cincinnati sued him for
$165 for unpaid horse feed bills.
By 1940 Carl was gone from the brewing company’s management team. He spent his time in various drinking establishments in and around Newport. Yet he retained his all- important ownership
position at the brewery. The company kept him satisfied by sending him cash when needed, and when
the bar tab became large, it was not uncommon to
see a Wiedemann beer truck making a special delivery to settle Carl’s bill.
In 1951 Carl’s boyhood home on Park Ave. was
sold to the Diocese of Covington for use as the residence of its bishop. Locally owned beer companies
were rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and the
Wiedemann Brewing Company was no exception.
In 1967 the company was sold to the G. Heileman
Brewery of La Crosse, Wis. Carl Wiedemann, the
last of the family’s owners, collapsed in February
1961 while living in Cincinnati and died later the
same day at Cincinnati’s General Hospital. He was
68 years old. After a sedate funeral ser vice at the
home of his sister Irma (Mrs. Charles T. Wagner),
in Cincinnati’s fashionable Hyde Park neighborhood, he was buried in the family plot at Evergreen
Cemetery in Southgate.
“Brewery Head, Wiedemann, Is Dead,” KP, November 4, 1928, 1.
“Carl Wiedemann Not to Wed,” NYT, December 27,
1923, 13.
“Carl Wiedemann of Newport Nominated First Two
Horses for Kentucky and Latonia Derbies,” KTS,
February 10, 1922, 27.
“C.F. Wiedemann Succumbs at 68,” KP, February 10,
1961, 1.
“Kentucky Beauty Dies in 5-Story Fall,” NYT, October 26, 1921, 12.
“Newport Man Who Met with Injury That Will Keep
Him out of the Yale Line-up Saturday,” KTS, October 24, 1914, 12.
“Personals,” KJ, May 19, 1892, 8.
“Wiedemann Heir Seeks Divorce from Mate,” KP,
March 27, 1930, 1.

Michael R. Sweeney

WIEDEMANN, CHARLES (b. June 16, 1858,
Cincinnati, Ohio; d. November 3, 1928, Cincinnati, Ohio). Charles Frank Wiedemann served as
president of the George Wiedemann Brewing
Company of Newport from 1890 to 1928. Son of the
company’s founder, George Wiedemann, Charles
was an effective businessman trained specifically
for this post in the family-controlled firm. He was
educated in Cincinnati and received his early
training in his father’s brewery. From 1876 to 1877
he studied the technical and scientific aspects of
brewing in Munich, Germany. On his return to the
United States, he spent a year in Milwaukee before
rejoining his father in Newport. Charles served as

956 WIEDEMANN BREWING COMPANY
superintendent of the firm, then vice president,
and finally president after the death of his father.
Under Charles’s leadership, the brewery continued
to expand and to adopt the latest technological,
distributive, and commercial advances. According
to an 1894 source, “The high standing of the company in the financial world is due in the main to
the business capacity of Charles Wiedemann.”
In 1884 Charles married Elizabeth Wagner of
Newport. A daughter, Lena, was born to the couple
in 1888, and a son, Carl, in 1892. Elizabeth died in
1896. In 1908 Charles married Alice Mellinger of
Covington.
During the 1880s Wiedemann resided in Newport on Jefferson St. (now W. Sixth St.), next to the
brewery. By the 1890s he had relocated to a Second
Empire–style brick house at 709 Overton St. in
East Newport. Before June 1900 he had moved into
a stately suburban residence commissioned by his
widowed mother, Agnes Rohmanns Wiedemann,
who had died in January 1899. He lived there, at
1102 Park Ave. in the Cote Brilliante section of
Newport, until his death. He was a good neighbor;
in 1912, when the Roman Catholic church of St.
Francis de Sales was built at Chesapeake and
Grand Aves. in Cote Brilliante, down the hill from
his home, Wiedemann donated to the parish a
Verdin Company–made bell, which hung in the
church belfry until recent times.
In 1908 Wiedemann built a baseball park in
Newport’s West End, home to a professional ball
team called the Brewers. The following year he
was elected president of the Kentucky Brewers
Association and also became a director of the
Kentucky Manufacturers Association. He was a
director of the First National Bank of Newport
and of the Evergreen Cemetery Association.
He was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
in Newport.
Wiedemann was no stranger to controversy.
In 1908 he threatened to call in a $3,000 debt owed
to the brewery by St. Mark Lutheran Church in
East Newport, despite claims that that the payment would bankrupt the congregation. In 1910 a
Mrs. Murphy fell to her death in an elevator shaft
in the Altamont Springs Hotel in Fort Thomas,
of which he was a co-owner. Her death resulted in
a $31,000 lawsuit. Wiedemann sold his interest in
the hotel to his partner in 1916. In 1928 the federal
government prosecuted the Wiedemann Brewery
for making illegal alcohol. Charles, confi ned to
his home by a two-year illness, never appeared in
court. His son, Carl Wiedemann, took the blame
for the crimes of his father and others. In 1928
Charles Wiedemann died of cirrhosis of the liver
at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, just as his trial
was about to start. His widow, Alice, was his sole
beneficiary, inheriting the Cote Brilliant mansion
and $250,000. Charles Wiedemann was buried
in the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery in
Southgate.
History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Cincinnati: S. B. Nelson, 1894.
Holian, Timothy. Over the Barrel: The Brewing
and Beer Culture of Cincinnati. Vol. 1, 1800–
Prohibition. St. Joseph, Mo.: Sudhaus Press, 2000.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the
George Wiedemann Brewing Company of Newport became one of the nation’s largest and most
progressive breweries. Its history and that of the
chief officers of the firm—nearly all members of or
related by marriage to the Wiedemann family—
provides a microcosm of more than a century of
the beer industry in the United States, particularly
in the Midwest.
The company was founded by George Wiedemann Sr. (ca. 1834–1890), whose sons Charles
Frank (1857–1928) and George Jr. (1866–1901) carried on the business after their father’s death.
George Wiedemann Sr. was born and educated in
Saxony, Germany, and trained in the brewing business there. After immigrating to the United States
in 1853, he spent a few years in New York State and
in Louisville before moving to Cincinnati. There,
he entered the business with George Frank Eichenlaub in Walnut Hills, a Cincinnati suburb. In 1860
Wiedemann began work as the foreman of Cincinnati’s Kauff man Brewery.
In 1870 he became a partner of John Butcher,
proprietor of the small Jefferson Street Brewery in
Newport. Wiedemann’s lager attracted many customers, who appreciated his use of the finest ingredients and the traditional German preparation of

Wiedemann Brewing Company.

the brew. By the late 1870s, the brewery was the largest in Northern Kentucky. In 1878 Wiedemann acquired the entire firm, which continued to expand
under his leadership. The firm marketed its products under the name of Butcher and Wiedemann.
In 1882 he added the former Constans Brewery
at Monmouth and Liberty Sts. in Newport, near
where the CSX Railroad crosses over U.S. 27 today. Ironically, the Constans operation had been
purchased by Wiedemann’s former partner
Butcher in 1878 but went bankrupt two years later.
The scale of the Wiedemann Brewery’s future
growth is suggested by Wiedemann’s improvements at the Constans site: he built a large malt
house with a capacity of 200,000 bushels and a
grain elevator that stored 160,000 bushels. The
malt house survived a near-catastrophic fire in 1890
and remained until it was torn down in the early
1980s.
In the late 1880s, Wiedemann began a major
expansion and modernization of the brewery facilities, which came to occupy five acres in Newport at Sixth and Columbia Sts. Capitalizing on his
quarter century of experience, he built one of the
world’s largest and most efficient breweries, designed by Newport architect Charles Vogel. The
brew-house was five stories tall, and the stable
housed up to 150 horses. In 1893 master architects
Samuel Hannaford and Sons of Cincinnati,
who also designed George Wiedemann’s widow’s
residence at 1102 Park Ave. in Newport’s Cote
Brilliante district, designed the company’s ornate
offices. The new plant brewed controversy, however, when it resulted in the displacement of the
Corinthian Baptist Church, an African American congregation. Temperance and prohibition
advocates denounced the move as an assault on
religion in Newport.
By 1889 three of Wiedemann’s brands—
Standard Lager, Extra Pale Lager, and Muenchener—
were sold widely in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.

WILEMAN, ABRAM G., MAJOR

In 1890, after the death of George Sr., his two sons,
Charles and George Jr., took over operations of the
brewery, incorporating it as the George Wiedemann Brewing Company. By the 1900s the brewery was the largest south of the Ohio River and east
of the Mississippi River.
During Prohibition, Newport became a center for bootlegging, and the smell of mash hung
heavily over the city’s West End. Like Cincinnati
breweries, Wiedemann’s tried to survive the dry
years by producing nonalcoholic brews. Throughout the 1920s, they also distilled millions of gallons of alcohol for “industrial purposes.” At least
half was the specially denatured variety used by
the area’s bootlegging kingpin George Remus.
Wiedemann’s became one of Remus’s biggest suppliers but was able to evade close scrutiny because
of Remus’s political connections with prominent
Republicans. In 1927 the company was charged by
the federal government with producing more than
1.5 million gallons of illegal brew in violation of
the Volstead Act, and the brewery was padlocked
and closed. Carl Wiedemann, the grandson of
George Sr. and the son of Charles Wiedemann,
took the blame and served eight months of a twoyear sentence in a federal penitentiary.
The Wiedemann Brewery reopened in 1933, following the repeal of Prohibition. It was reorganized
in 1937 under the leadership of H. Tracy Balcom Jr.,
a grandson of the founder. Members of the family,
who owned all the stock, continued to serve as its
chief officers and spent a million dollars modernizing the plant. In the postwar era, Wiedemann’s remained one of the most viable Cincinnati-area independent beer producers. Production grew from
150,000 barrels in 1938 to 850,000 barrels by 1955.
New programs, such as year-round newspaper advertising, and new brands, such as the premium
Royal Amber, contributed to its success.
Beginning in the 1950s, massive consolidation
transformed the brewing industry. Heavily advertised national brands took over local breweries that
had allowed their production facilities to become
outdated. Wiedemann’s kept itself competitive by
investing in new technology, but it faced an uncertain future because national producers could afford to undersell its price and weaken customer
loyalty.
In 1967 the Wiedemann Brewery was absorbed
as an independent division by the Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wis. The Wiedemann
brand proved profitable, but its production facilities were no longer cost-effective. In 1983 Heileman closed the Newport plant and shuttered the
buildings. Because the Wiedemann Brewing Company had been the largest employer in Newport,
the closure cost 400 regular jobs, reduced municipal payroll taxes by one-eighth, and slashed the
Newport water department’s annual revenues.
During the 1980s a commercial developer, National Redevelopment Inc., proposed reusing the
Wiedemann Brewery buildings as an office and
retail center called Wiedemann Square. The project
won a federal Urban Development Action Grant
but was never built. By the 1990s the entire brewery
complex had been demolished. Part of the land was

WILDER. Wilder, situated along the Licking
River and the AA Highway (Ky. Rt. 9 or Licking
Pk.) in northwestern Campbell Co., was incorporated in 1935. Settlement in the area dates back to
1789, when Maj. David Leitch founded Leitch’s
Station nearby. The city and its environs have long
had an industrial focus. The local 1883 Lake atlas
describes the area as including Wilders Station,
Finchtown, and Summerhill. The atlas shows a distillery, an icehouse, railroad yards, and the Licking
Turnpike (a toll road). The Licking Turnpike (now
Licking Pk.) was originally built by the Trapp Family and later sold to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The name Wilder comes from Wilder Station, a railroad depot that operated during the early
days of the city. Either named for a Covington eye
doctor or a member of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) Board of Directors, Wilder
has always had an association with the Licking
River and the railroad.
On the hills of Wilder during the Civil War,
fortifications were built in 1862 to fend off a Confederate invasion of the region. Remnants of Wilder’s
Battery Holt remain on the tall hill overlooking the
Licking River valley just above and behind today’s
United Dairy Farmers Store at Licking Pk. and
Moock Rd (see Civil War Fortifications). A racetrack named the Queen City Track operated from
the 1890s until 1905 in the river valley area where
Newport Steel is located. A street at the site of the
defunct racetrack is named Queen City Ave.
Wilder’s riverfront and hills today are occupied
by Newport Steel, the Frederick’s Landing recreation area, and Bobby Mackey’s Music World
(formerly the Latin Quarter). Carlisle Construction (now Maxim), the Castellini Produce Warehouse, Queen City Ice, and Sun Rock Farm are
other businesses in the area. Wilder built a new
city building in 2000. The reconstructed Ky. Rt. 9,
or AA Highway, and I-275 provide easy access to
the city, where many new homes, condominiums,
and apartments have been built. A movie theater, a
sports complex, restaurants, and other businesses
are located at the intersection of I-275 and the AA
Highway. In 2000 Wilder had a population of
2,624.

WILDLIFE AREAS IN OWEN CO. In Owen
Co., two wildlife management refuges help to
maintain the natural habitat for this part of the
Northern Kentucky region, while providing noncommercial recreational opportunities to those
who visit. In the northwestern area of the county,
just north of Moxley, along Ky. Rt. 355 and the Kentucky River, is the Twin Eagle Wildlife Area. Established in 1962, this 166-acre tract is owned and
managed by the Kentucky Department of Fish and
Wildlife Resources. It runs along the steep Kentucky River terrace, consisting of woods, croplands,
grasslands, and sloughs. Doves, rabbits, quail, deer,
turkeys, and sometimes ducks can be seen there.
Hiking, climbing, and fishing are permitted, but no
camping. Included within its boundaries are 70
acres of river-bottom cropland.
The second wildlife refuge in Owen Co., also
owned and managed by the Department of Fish
and Wildlife Resources, is the Kleber Wildlife
Area. It is in the southern part of the county, west
of Harmony, along Ky. Rt. 368 (Cedar Rd.), near
the Franklin Co. line. It lies between U.S. 127 and
Ky. Rt. 227. In April 1953 the State of Kentucky
purchased 750 acres of land to establish this wildlife refuge. Approximately 75 percent of the initial
cost was funded by the will of John A. Kleber, a
longtime Frankfort businessman. Today, the refuge has expanded to 2,556 acres and extends into
Franklin Co. Hiking is available over terrains of
steep hillsides, narrow ridges, and floodplains full
of woods, brush, grasslands, and wildlife food
plots. Quail, deer, squirrels, rabbits, turkeys, groundhogs, and raccoons can be observed. Bluegill fishing is permitted at the refuge’s small pond and in
Cedar Creek. Hiking and primitive camping are
also allowed. This is the site of the annual Christmas Bird Count conducted by the Frankfort Bird
Club and the Frankfort Audubon Society.
Houchens, Mariam Sidebottom. History of Owen
County: “Sweet Owen.” Louisville, Ky.: Standard,
1976.

WILEMAN, ABRAM G., MAJOR (b. 1821,
Stark Co., Ohio; d. October 5, 1863, Knoxville,
Pendleton Co., Ky.). Abram Wileman, a physician
and a Civil War major, was the son of Mahlon and
Elizabeth Logue Wileman, Quakers who moved to
Stark Co., Ohio, from Columbiana Co., Ohio. In
1858, after having lived in Pendleton Co. for three
years, Abram Wileman divorced his wife Elizabeth
and married Parthenia A. Race of Pendleton Co.
They resided along the Falmouth-Knoxville Rd.
(Ky. Rt. 467). During the Civil War, Abram enlisted
in 1861 on the Union side and was commissioned a

958 WILLIAM H. HARSHA BRIDGE
captain in the 18th Kentucky Infantry. He saw action in several battles as an infantryman and was
promoted to major. During the battle of Chickamauga, Tenn., in September 1863, Wileman suffered a gunshot wound in his left forearm and returned home to recuperate. On the evening of
October 5, 1863, while he sat in his parlor with his
wife and some neighbors, Confederate guerrillas
burst in, reportedly under Gen. John C. Breckenridge’s command. They took $200 from Wileman’s
neighbors but got nothing from the doctor. The invaders took Wileman a mile and a half down the
road and murdered him with a shot through the
head.
Wileman’s murder emphasizes how divided
Pendleton Co. was by the Civil War. Generally
speaking, the northern part of the county was proUnion, and the southern area, around Morgan and
McKinneysburg, favored the Confederacy. Although the incident was investigated by the Union
deputy provost marshal of Pendleton Co., no legal
action ensued. Dr. Wileman’s widow and three
children moved to Stark Co., Ohio, and Wileman
was buried at the Marlboro Cemetery, near Marlboro, Ohio.
Belew, Mildred Boden. The First 200 Years of Pendleton County. Falmouth, Ky.: M. B. Belew, n.d. [ca.
1994].
Warner, W. A. Paris (Ky.) Western Citizen, October
23, 1863.
Wileman, A. G., Military Payroll and Ser vice Records, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Mildred Belew

WILLIAM H. HARSHA BRIDGE. The William H. Harsha Bridge across the Ohio River, located 2.8 miles downstream from the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge at Maysville, was dedicated
on October 9, 2000, and was opened to traffic in
January 2001. It was named for William H. Harsha,
the longtime southern Ohio U.S. congressman
from Portsmouth, Ohio, who served what was then
the Sixth District of Ohio for 20 years (1961–1981).
Construction began in April 1997. It is Kentucky’s
first cable-stayed suspension bridge; located at
Charleston Bottoms, the bridge has two 12-foot
auto lanes and two 12-foot shoulders. The bridge’s
five spans total a length of 2,100 feet, and for much
of that distance the bridge hangs from two 343foot-tall dominating H-shaped towers. Simply put,
the bridge’s design allows for movement to take
place without any noticeable effect on the structure
itself. Built at a cost of $37 million, the bridge does
not replace the nearby Simon Kenton Bridge but
complements it by diverting the heavy transient
truck traffic from downtown Maysville, while encouraging the overall economic development of the
area. The William H. Harsha Bridge provides an
easy link between the AA Highway in Kentucky
and U.S. 52 in Ohio. Sometime in the future, the
William H. Harsha Bridge may become part of the
proposed highway between Lexington, Ky. and Columbus, Ohio.
A similar type of bridge was constructed along
the Ohio River upstream from Maysville at Ports-

mouth, Ohio, leading into Lewis Co., Ky. Known
as the U.S. Grant Bridge, it opened for moving traffic on October 16, 2006.

ily. In 1994 their son Ken Jr. died from head injuries suffered in a fall outside Riverfront Stadium in
Cincinnati.

WILLIAMS, BRIAN P. (b. May 8, 1972, Covington, Ky.; d. September 11, 2001, New York City).
Brian Patrick Williams, a victim of 9/11, was the
third of four children born to Kenneth E. and
Kathleen G. Burke Williams. The other children
were Ken Jr., Andy, and Tara. Brian attended St.
Pius X Grade School in Edgewood and Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills. He was
an excellent student and also earned varsity letters
in basketball, football, and track in high school. He
then attended Columbia University in New York
City, majoring in economics, and after graduation
began working as an agency salesman for CantorFitzgerald, investment bankers in New York City.
His office was located on the 104th floor of the
World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, when
the two hijacked airliners crashed into the Twin
Towers, Brian’s family feared the worst but prayed
for the best. They watched the television news and
anxiously sat by their telephone, hoping to hear
from Brian, but the call never came. The family was
able to make contact with Brian’s girlfriend, Lisa
Kraus, in New York City, but she indicated that she
had also been trying in vain to reach him. Some of
Brian’s New York City friends made the rounds of
area hospitals, but those trips yielded no information about him. The FBI hotline that was set up to
provide the names of survivors, those injured, and
the known dead also gave no clue to Brian’s whereabouts. After days of searching, Brian was still
listed as missing. Some of his remains later were
recovered, however, and returned to his grieving
family. Prayer ser vices were held at Covington
Catholic High School, and a memorial Mass was
held in his honor. His remains were buried in the
Mother of God Cemetery in Covington. This tragedy was the second endured by the Williams fam-

Brian Patrick Williams, June 2001.

WILLIAMS, CAROLINE “LINE” (b. November 10, 1908, Covington, Ky.; d. March 9, 1988,
Burlington, Ky.). Caroline Williams, the daughter
of nationally recognized Cincinnati Enquirer artist Carll B. Williams and Mary Teal Williams, was
an artist, a historian, a printer, and a writer. She
was best known for her pen and ink drawings but
also known for the masterful etchings she used on
her own press and for her charm, warmth, sense of
humor, and rugged individualism. Caroline spent
her first five years in Kentucky. The family lived at
various residences in Northern Kentucky until
1913, when they bought a home in Cincinnati. At
age five Caroline picked up a pen and found her
calling in art. She received her education at Cincinnati’s Hughes High School, the University of
Cincinnati (attending for one year), the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and the Art Students League in
New York City.
Early in her career, Williams was keenly interested in portraiture; however, during the Great
Depression it was difficult to make a living as a
freelance artist. Four years after her father’s death
in 1928, the blue-eyed, slender Williams followed
in her father’s footsteps and began working for the
Cincinnati Enquirer, where he had been artistic
director, in March 1932. She did miscellaneous
tasks, including some illustrating, and ran errands. Cincinnati artist E. T. Hurley, a friend to
both Caroline and her father, had a strong influence on her.
After seven months with the Enquirer, she
showed a few incidental sketches of city scenes to a
managing editor, and the idea of a regular weekly
feature entitled A Spot in Cincinnati was born. Her
first sketch for this column was a skyline view from
Liberty Hill, in the Mount Auburn section of Cincinnati, which appeared in the Enquirer in November 1932. Her sketches were in charcoal, ink, or pen.
Occasionally, she would photograph a scene and
then complete the sketch at home. She spent long
hours at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton Co. and at the Cincinnati Historical Society,
researching old buildings and sites. Her drawings of
spots around Cincinnati appeared in the Enquirer’s
Sunday editorial pages for 47 years. At first, staff
writers were assigned to write captions for Williams’s sketches, but when the caption was missing
one week, she took on the task herself. Soon readers
began to look forward to her personal comments
about each scene. Later some of her sketches featured sites in Northern Kentucky and Indiana. Williams remained at the Enquirer until 1945, when
she began a freelance career; however, she continued
her A Spot in Cincinnati for the newspaper.

WILLIAMS, ELLISON E.

Caroline Williams.

In the late 1930s, when Williams became concerned about the rise of Nazi aggression, she joined
the Committee to Defend America, where she met
its secretary, Dorothy Caldwell. They became fast
and lifelong friends. During World War II, both
women volunteered for the American Red Cross
Motor Corps, transporting blood donors at a time
when gasoline was rationed. They also drove busloads of soldiers from their base at Cincinnati’s
Lunken Airport to the city.
In 1941 Williams designed a stylized map of
Cincinnati, which was sold during the Christmas
season at Closson’s, downtown Cincinnati’s famous art gallery and furniture store. Between 1943
and 1945, she also sold real estate for the Morton
Bruce Company. At the same time, her sketches
were in great demand at galleries across the city. In
March 1942 Closson’s Gallery exhibited her drawings and etchings of towns in Quebec, Canada,
made during a tour there with her friend Dorothy
Caldwell.
Near the end of World War II, Williams purchased 52 acres in Burlington, which included two
log cabins that she converted into a single twostory log cabin home, doing much of the carpentry
herself. Her mother resided with her. Williams set
up her presses (she eventually had four) in a corncrib and a smokehouse on the property. One of her
favorite pastimes was fishing in her pond.
The mix of past and present was an ever-present
theme of Williams’s work well into the 1960s. She
expressed frustration over some people’s urge to tear
down mellow old buildings. She became, for many
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents, the
artist of the region’s immediate past. Kentucky author Jesse Stuart wrote, “Artist Caroline Williams
has a passion for old architecture. She weeps when a
building goes.”
Williams made original drawings for many
corporations, including Christmas cards for the
Fift h Third Bank of Cincinnati. Her snow scenes,
including Methodist Church of Florence (March
12, 1950); The Residence of Dr. George C. Kolb
(on Belmont Ave. in Cincinnati) (February 26,
1939); and Pershing Avenue, off Main Street in
Covington (December 23, 1956), were especially
well received.
In 1962 Williams received the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts award. She was the first woman
to receive the Rosa F. and Samuel B. Sachs Prize,

awarded for her book Cincinnati—Steeples,
Streets, and Steps, which included 96 of her
sketches. Williams carried out every aspect of her
sketches, from the drawing, to the handset type, to
the printing. She also received a citation by the
Ohioana Literary Association for distinguished
ser vice to Ohio in the cause of the arts. It was said
that she had done more to publicize Greater Cincinnati’s and Northern Kentucky’s beauty than
any other person. Until she received the Sachs
prize, Williams had refused Enquirer readers a
visit to her home. After that, however, she permitted publication of a pictorial tribute, a photograph
of her seated in her home.
Williams published five books, The City on
Seven Hills (1938), Mirrored Landmarks of Cincinnati (1939), As Always— Cincinnati (1951);
Cincinnati Scenes: Steeples, Streets, and Steps
(1962), and Louisville Scenes (1971). The Enquirer
produced the first of her books, and some of the
later works were published in her Penandhoe Print
Shop. She also produced illustrations for the literary magazine Talaria between 1936 and 1953, including the Talaria book Garland for a City
(1946).
Williams’s sketches showed up on napkins,
checks, and plastic placemats. In 1973 Cincinnati’s
Newstedt, Loring, Andrews Jewelers sent her to
Europe to develop a series of her sketches of scenes
for English Wedgewood collector plates. At the
time of her death, the 1988 commemorative Caroline Williams plates of Winton Place Railroad Station awaited shipment from England.
Her last two sketches, Cincinnati’s Plum Street
Temple and St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, appeared in 1979, when Williams was 71 years old.
She stopped making sketches for the newspaper in
early December 1980 and spent her final years creating watercolors in the style she had studied at the
Sorbonne in Paris. One of her last watercolors was
Mother of God Church, Covington, Ky., painted
at the request of Gerald Bogenschutz, a United
Parcel Ser vice driver who delivered supplies to
Williams for nearly 20 years. He was a member of
Mother of God Catholic Church, and in late
summer 1987, he asked her to donate a painting to
an auction for the benefit of the church’s restoration, following a $1.5 million fire. She responded
generously with this watercolor painting.
Williams died in her sleep at her log cabin in
1988 and was buried with her family at the Forest
Hill Cemetery in Shelbyville, Ind. Shortly after
her death, the Chidlaw Gallery at the Art Academy of Cincinnati presented an exhibition in
honor of the City of Cincinnati’s Bicentennial that
included her treasured drawings, etchings, and
watercolors as well as illustrations and cartoons
by her father, Carll Williams; there were 60 works
in all. She had kept the originals of most of her
weekly entries in the Enquirer. The funds derived
from the exhibition were used for the Caroline
Williams Scholarship Fund at the academy. The
original drawings for the Enquirer series became
the property of the Cincinnati Historical Society,
and more than 1,200 of them were offered for sale
in February 1994.

WILLIAMS, ELLISON E. (b. April 19, 1766,
North Carolina; d. August 11, 1850, Kenton Co., Ky.)
Ellison Williams, a Northern Kentucky pioneer and
road-builder, arrived in Kentucky with his family in
1775. He was present at Bryants Station in August
1782 when it was attacked by Simon Girty and his
band of pro-British Indians. Williams became a
friend and favorite hunting companion of Daniel
Boone. After Williams came to Kenton Co. in 1785,
he and his brother built the first house in Covington,
near the mouth of the Licking River. Ellison Williams settled on a farm along what became the
Banklick Turnpike, eight miles south of Covington,
and lived there for some 65 years. He built many
roads in Northern Kentucky, as the early Campbell
Co. court order books attest, and was often a guide
and escort for travelers between Northern Kentucky
and Lexington. During Mad Anthony Wayne’s campaign against the Indians in northern Ohio (1793–
1794), Williams had the contract to supply Wayne’s
army with venison and wild game, which, according
to records, he did quite satisfactorily. When Daniel
Boone’s remains were re-interred in Kentucky at the
Frankfort Cemetery in 1845, Williams was a pall
bearer, and at that time he requested that his own remains eventually be placed near Boone’s grave. Williams died at his farm in 1850. In May 1860, in response to an 1860 order of the Kentucky legislature,
his remains were moved to Frankfort for reburial
near Boone’s. Williams was known as a good woodsman, a fearless man, and a true friend.
“Ellison Williams,” CJ, May 26, 1860, 2.

960 WILLIAMS, GLENROSE
WILLIAMS, GLENROSE (b. January 4, 1921,
Bullittsville, Boone Co., Ky.; d. April 26, 2008, Burlington, Ky.). Edith Glenrose Williams, who was a
Boone Co. sheriff, was the daughter of J. T. “Jake”
and Edith Carpenter Williams. In 1944, while
serving as sheriff of Boone Co., her father died suddenly, and Glenrose Williams was appointed the
first female sheriff in Boone Co. Williams had
served as a deputy sheriff for her father, doing
bookkeeping work. After his death, many people
felt a woman could not carry out the job of sheriff.
However, Boone Co. judge Carroll Cropper disagreed and recommended her appointment, which
was approved by Kentucky governor Simeon S.
Willis (1943–1947). The news of Williams’s appointment to the sheriff position was published in
newspapers as far away as Hawaii.
During Williams’s tenure, the gambling interests prevalent in Campbell and Kenton counties
wanted to expand into Boone Co., setting up a confrontation between the female sheriff and a representative of the Chicago mob. The big test came
when the mob brought gambling just over the Boone
Co. border to a location along the Dixie Highway
(U.S. 25). Accompanied by her deputy, Williams entered the building, and a member of the mob approached her, smiling. In plain sight, in the front
room of the building, was a bank of slot machines,
and in the back other forms of gambling were occurring. Sheriff Williams arrested the mobster for
gambling with the slot machines and ordered him
to appear in court in the morning. He was never
seen in Boone Co. again, and gambling did not
spread to Boone Co. The confiscated slot machines
were smashed with a sledge hammer, which Williams wielded for the first blow. The all-iron machines were destroyed on the sidewalk in front of the
old courthouse, in public, as demanded by state law.
Williams did not seek another term because she
did not expect to win. Her term as sheriff ran from
1944 to 1946, filling out her father’s elected term. In
later years, one time when Williams was leaving
Flick’s Grocery in Burlington, a young woman asked
if she could help the elderly Williams with her bags.
The young woman was a Boone Co. deputy sheriff,
and when Williams told her that she had once been
sheriff, the deputy was not able to believe her. Williams’s husband, Byron Kinman, was the first police
chief of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and at one time also served as
the sheriff of Boone Co. He died in 2006. Glenrose
Williams died in 2008 and was buried in Florence
Cemetery.
Ancestry.com. “Kentucky Birth Index, 1911–1999.”
www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8788 (accessed December 4, 2006).
Warner, Jennifer S. Boone County: From Mastodons to the Millennium. Burlington, Ky.: Boone
Co. Bicentennial Book Committee, 1998.

Robert Schrage

WILLIAMS, SHEILA (b. December 13, 1954,
Columbus, Ohio). Novelist Sheila Williams is the
daughter of James W. Williams Jr. and Myrtle
Jones Humphrey. Born and reared in Columbus,

Ohio, she was educated in the Columbus public
schools, attended Ohio Wesleyan College, and
graduated from the University of Louisville with a
degree in political science. She was employed in
the corporate business world as a legal secretary, a
para legal, and a mutual fund product manager; she
worked for law firms, two banks (including Cincinnati’s Fift h Third), and a Fortune 500 corporation. She gave up her career in the corporate world
to pursue her passion for writing and published
her first book at age 48. She is currently the author
of four novels: Dancing on the Edge of the Roof
(2002), The Shade of My Own Tree (2003), On the
Right Side of a Dream (2005) (a Kentucky Educational Television Book Club discussion selection),
and Girls Most Likely (2006). Her novels often
deal with women “finding themselves” by overcoming issues such as domestic violence and pursuing their personal dreams in the popu lar romance genre. Her novel Dancing on the Edge of
the Roof was nominated for the Kentucky Literary
Award in 2005. Sheila and her husband moved to
Cincinnati in 1999 and three years later moved to
Newport, where they currently reside.
Sheila Williams. www.sheilajwilliams.com/ (accessed
June 2007).
Wecker, David. “Former Exec Finds Niche as Author.”
www.cincypost.com/2003/11/20/wecker112003
.html (accessed June 2007).

Danny Miller

WILLIAMSON, JOHN A. (b. July 9, 1826,
Portsmouth, Ohio; d. July 7, 1898, Newport, Ky.).
Riverboat captain and bridge-builder John Allen
Williamson was the son of Samuel and Mary Slack
Williamson. The family arrived in Newport in
1833, and Samuel died of cholera soon afterward.
Son John became a steamboat pi lot by age 18 and
soon owned part of a line of boats operating on the
lower Ohio River. Williamson was a successful
steamboat captain for many years. In 1866 he
leased the Newport and Cincinnati Ferry. In 1867
he was president of the Newport City Council. In
1884 he began to formulate plans for a bridge across
the Ohio at Newport. He organized the companies
to build it, incorporating them as the Central Railway and Bridge Company in Kentucky and the
Central Bridge Company in Ohio; he was the president of both companies. His bridge, known as the
Central Bridge, opened on August 29, 1891. It was
at the time the second-longest bridge in the United
States. In addition, Williamson was a bank president, was involved with the water company, served
as president of the Newport Light Company, and
consolidated the horse streetcar lines in Northern
Kentucky. He died in Newport in 1898 and was
buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate. His
wife, Elizabeth Kirby Williamson, whom he had
married in 1848, and a son, Lawrence, survived
him. His estate was valued at one-half million dollars. Williamson was also the uncle of well-known
Newport-born suff ragette Josephine Williamson Henry.
Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of
Kentucky. Chicago: John M. Gresham, 1896.

WILLIAMSTOWN. This city, which is the seat
of Grant Co., is located at the junction of U.S. 25,
Ky. Rt. 22, and Ky. Rt. 467, east of I-75. The city is
near the site of Littell’s Station, which was established above the North Branch of Fork Lick by
James Littell (1754–1833) and his wife, Michah
Standiford, in about 1792. Their son William Littell (1789–1823) was instrumental in the creation
of Grant Co. in 1820. Williamstown was laid out
on land owned by Capt. William Arnold, who
served in the Virginia line in the Revolutionary
War, moved to Kentucky in the 1780s, and also
fought in the Indian Wars, including Harmar’s
1790 campaign, during which he was wounded. By
July 1809, the area had a post office called Arnold’s.
In 1820 Captain Arnold donated land on which to
build public buildings for the newly established
county of Grant. The county court met in June
1820 at the new town of “Philladelphia [sic].” However, the state soon informed the county leaders
that there was already a city in Kentucky by that
name and that they would have to choose another.
The name was changed to William’s Town, in
honor of William Arnold and also, presumably,
William Littell, the surveyor of the county court.
In the early 1820s, a jail and a courthouse were
completed and the Grant Seminary opened. By
1822 a post office was established with the name of
Williamstown Court House. An official plat of the
city showed 99 one-fourth-acre lots on a 25-acre
site.
The first church located at Williamstown was
the Mount Nebo Church of Christ, organized in
1822 and closed by 1824. Other denominations
followed: the Williamstown Par ticu lar Baptist
Church in 1826, the Williamstown Christian
Church in about 1827, the Williamstown Methodist Church (see Williamstown United Methodist Church) in 1847, the Williamstown Baptist
Church in 1878, and the St. William Catholic
Church in 1893.
In the early nineteenth century, Abner Gaines
(see Gaines Tavern) began operating a stagecoach
line through the county. By the mid-1830s Robert
Coleman had opened a blacksmith shop on the corner of Main and Mill Sts. From the 1820s through
the 1840s, many taverns or inns were opened in
Williamstown, to serve the growing needs of stagecoach travelers along the Covington and Lexington Turnpike.
Diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever often struck the city, killing many citizens. Fires were
also a constant threat, and at least three times fire
destroyed most of the frame buildings in town. In
1859 a group of Williamstown businessmen purchased six acres of land on which to establish the
Williamstown Municipal Cemetery.
In the early years, the town grew slowly; by
1870 it had only 281 residents. The city’s first news-

WILLIAMSTOWN BAPTIST CHURCH

Grant Co. courthouse, Williamstown, ca. 1908.

paper, the Williamstown News, began publishing
on October 10, 1872, but ceased operations after
about six months. In 1874 another newspaper, the
Williamstown Sentinel, was begun. In 1879 the
Williamstown Courier was established, and it
merged in 1909 with the Grant Co. News, which
since that time has been the only newspaper serving the city.
The first medical doctors to live and practice in
Williamstown were Dr. Wesley Tully and Dr. Samuel Tungate. In addition to being a physician, Dr.
Tully owned a general store on Main St., was a
trustee of the city and of the Seminary school, and
also served as deputy sheriff. The town’s namesake,
William Arnold, died in 1836, and his wife died several years later. A two-story log house once owned
by the Arnold family has been restored and recently
relocated (see Arnold, William, and the Arnold
Log House).
During the Civil War, although Kentucky attempted to remain neutral, several skirmishes occurred in and around Williamstown. Some of the
citizens fought for the Union, while others fought
for the Confederacy, and many prominent citizens
were arrested and jailed for their allegiances. On
November 1, 1864, 32 Confederate soldiers raided
the town, attempting to find a large cache of government money that they believed was held in a
vault at Tunis Hardware, but none was found. After the fruitless search, the soldiers plundered the
store (see Williamstown Raid). After the end of
hostilities, the conflict gradually faded from memory and life returned to normal.
Better access to the town was gained in 1877,
when the Cincinnati–New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railroad (see Southern Railway) laid tracks
through the town and built a depot there. The train
provided residents with access to employment and
markets in Cincinnati and in the GeorgetownLexington area in Kentucky. The city built a lake
and a water tower in 1929, to provide a safe water
supply for its residents. Williamstown became quite

self-sufficient when in the 1970s it also built a modern sewage-treatment plant. By the mid-1950s, the
city had outgrown the existing lake, so a new, larger
one was built. Lake Williamstown, completed in
May 1957, not only provided additional water for
city growth but also offered recreational opportunities. In recent years there have been plans to enlarge the lake and try to make it into a state park.
The greatest change in transportation to Williamstown came in the 1960s, when I-75 was built
just west of the city. The expressway provided easy
access to most major cities in Northern and Central Kentucky. The 2003 completion of the Barnes
Rd. intersection off I-75 has further improved the
city’s accessibility and has also provided an area for
new commercial development outside of the older
part of town. Williamstown is a fift h-class city governed by a mayor and a six-member city council.
The 2000 census indicated that the city had a population of 3,227.
Chandler, Virgil, Sr. “William Arnold, First Sheriff of
Grant County and Founder of Williamstown,
Grant County, Kentucky,” Grant County Historical Society Newsletter, no. 59 (June–July 1998):
365–70.
City of Williamstown. www.wtownky.org (accessed
September 25, 2006).
Conrad, John B., ed. History of Grant County. Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical Society, 1992.
Kleber, John E., ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia.
Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1992.
U.S. Census Bureau. “American Fact Finder. Data Set.
Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent
Data. Custom Table.” www.census.gov (accessed
October 3, 2006).

WILLIAMSTOWN BAPTIST CHURCH. On
June 1, 1878, eight charter members in Williamstown organized the Williamstown Baptist Church,
which was sponsored by the Elkhorn Baptist Association. The church was the fifth Baptist church in
Grant Co. Initially it met in the courthouse under

961

the leadership of its first pastor, Rev. C. H. McDowell, who resigned three months later. S. H. Burgess
(1878–1886) replaced him as the church’s minister.
Church ser vices continued to be held in the courthouse until the church’s first building, located on
the east side of Mill St. in Williamstown, was completed at a cost of $3,000 and dedicated in July 1883.
In August 1889, to provide increased opportunities
for fellowship with neighboring churches, the
church requested dismissal from the Elkhorn Baptist Association and accepted membership in the
Crittenden Baptist Association in June 1890.
Between 1902 and 1910, the Williamstown
Baptist Church suffered a series of problems, and as
a result, its membership declined from 200 to 114.
Finally, the church began to grow in ser vice,
strength, and vision as membership returned to
200 by 1918. During the pastorate of John S. Ransdell (1918–1922), the church made an important
decision, to move its 41-year-old church building
from Mill St. to a more visible location in town
along Main St., at a cost of $8,000. The first ser vice
at the new site was conducted on October 4, 1919,
and church ser vices were begun there on a full-time
basis in 1920. A later remodeling and expansion
project, costing $20,000, was finished in time for a
dedication ser vice on October 2, 1938. A day-long
ser vice was held celebrating the church’s first 60
years. By that time, church membership had grown
to 363. The first parsonage, a five-room brick house
adjacent to the church, was built in 1949 for a cost of
$12,569. In October 1955, the church called R. T.
Daugherty as pastor. Under his leadership, a new
building program began in January 1959, with the
purchase of 7.5 acres adjoining the church. The first
worship ser vice in the new sanctuary was held on
January 24, 1971. The total cost of the building and
furnishings was $375,000.
Parkview Manor, a 34-unit complex for the elderly, was built in 1980 under the sponsorship of
the Williamstown Baptist Church. The new complex was part of the vision of Rev. Daugherty. He
was named pastor emeritus upon his retirement after 24 years of ser vice, 1955–1979, the longest pastorate in the church’s history. Rev. James P. Craigmyle, a missionary, was the next pastor (1990–1999);
he served the second-longest term of the church’s
38 pastors. Between 1898 and 1994, the church licensed five ministers to preach and four were ordained to the ministry.
Through the years, the Williamstown Baptist
Church has been renowned for its emphasis on
music. Its music ministry legacy began in 1905,
with F. M. Clinkscales and his wife, Ann Blanchett
Clinkscales. Members of this family remain active
in the music ministry of the church.
In fall 2005 the Williamstown Baptist Church
began a campaign called “Challenge to Build.” Its
purpose is to assist in building a $3 million expansion that will double the church facility’s educational space and provide a new multipurpose wing.
Church membership has expanded to 740.
Church Records, Williamstown Baptist Church, Williamstown, Ky.

Caroline Ransdell

962 WILLIAMSTOWN IN DE PEN DENT SCHOOLS
WILLIAMSTOWN
INDEPENDENT
SCHOOLS. There are two school districts within
Grant Co., the Grant Co. School District, and the
Williamstown Independent Schools, a district that
consists of two schools. In 1884, Grant Co. legislator Judge C. C. Cram guided through the General
Assembly an act creating a graded free school in
Williamstown; in 1887, residents approved a tax
for the school. The Williamstown Graded Free
School opened its doors in 1891 in a red brick structure along Main St., containing four classrooms,
a principal’s office, and an impressive 400-seat
chapel–lecture room. By 1892 the school had an
enrollment of 256. The following year, the institution graduated its first high school class. By 1920 a
boosters club and a PTA were in operation, and in
that year the girls’ basketball team won the championship in Northern Kentucky, despite having to
practice outdoors.
In March 1923, the old school building affectionately known as “the castle” burned, and classes
were held in various locations throughout Williamstown until a new three-story brick school
building opened in 1924, which was used as a high
school until 1968. A school band was first organized in 1938 and has flourished ever since.
In 1956 the school system was racially integrated. Shortly thereafter, a new building to house
kindergarten through the fourth grade was added to
the Main St. campus; in 1968 the last class graduated
from the Main St. School; a new one-story school
building at 300 Helton St., still in use, opened that
September. An elementary school addition was
completed in the 1990s.
The most famous graduate of the Williamstown
Independent Schools is Arnie Risen, of the high
school class of 1942, who played in the National
Basketball League and became the second person
from Northern Kentucky to be inducted into the
National Basketball Hall of Fame. The City of Williamstown recently renamed Helton St., where the
schools are located, Arnie Risen Blvd. In 2006 the
total enrollment of the Williamstown Independent
Schools was 877, including 432 high school
students.
Conrad, John B., ed. History of Grant County. Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical Society, 1992.

WILLIAMSTOWN MUNICIPAL CEMETERY. Located just east of downtown Williamstown on the north side of Ky. Rt. 22, Williamstown Municipal Cemetery traces its beginnings to
1859, when a group of town leaders purchased
from Alfred Kendall six acres adjacent to the existing cemetery of the Williamstown Par ticu lar Baptist Church. The Williamstown Cemetery Company owned and administered the grounds until it
encountered financial problems during the Great
Depression. In the mid-1940s a new state law was
passed, which allowed the cemetery to be owned
and operated by the City of Williamstown; at that
time the cemetery was named the Williamstown
Municipal Cemetery. Several additions to the
property have been made over the years. In 1947,
for example, the cemetery took control of the old

burial grounds of the Williamstown Par ticu lar
Baptist Church. It is not known who was the first
person buried in the cemetery, nor does it appear
that the grounds contain any Revolutionary War
veterans’ graves. There is at least one War of 1812
veteran buried in the cemetery. Famous people interred there include Ziegfeld Follies girl Bertha
Opp, Caroline J. Marie Dupuy Blanchet (the first
woman to climb Mount Blanc), and Doris V.
Clark. In the early 1960s, the Odor family constructed a mausoleum on the grounds for its family members. Burials continue today at the cemetery at the rate of 50 per year.
Chandler, Virgil, Sr. The Williamstown Cemetery.
Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical Society,
1987.
Reis, Jim. “Cemeteries,” KP, April 21, 1986, 4K.

WILLIAMSTOWN RAID. At 3:30 a.m., November 1, 1864, a Confederate Cavalry force of 32
men commanded by Col. Robert J. Breckinridge
and Maj. Theophilus Steele (the son and son-in-law
of Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge of Fayette Co.) conducted a raid on Williamstown, Ky. The raiders
expected to capture a large sum of U.S. Government money that they had been informed was in
the safe in N. C. Tunis’s store in Williamstown. The
money had been removed already, but the raiders
found 30 U.S. muskets that they confiscated. The
raid was made without incident, and there was no
reprisal by the U.S. forces that were occupying the
area.
Conrad, John B., ed. History of Grant County. Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical Society, 1992.

John B. Conrad

WILLIAMSTOWN UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH. Little is known of the early history of
the Methodist Church in Grant Co. Francis Asbury, Peter Cartwrite, William McKendree, and
Barnabas McHenry are early preachers who traveled over large circuits, establishing churches
throughout the Kentucky Methodist District. More
than 100 years ago, Cartwrite visited the southeastern section of Grant Co., preached, and spent the
night at the old Ackman homestead, where L. A.
Ackman lived near Layton’s chapel. In 1847, William Tucker and his wife Elizabeth deeded a plot of
land in Williamstown to trustees of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South. This is the present site of
the Williamstown United Methodist Church. In
the late 1840s, Joseph Rand, a resident of Lexington, was pastor of the Crittenden Methodist
Preaching Circuit, which included all of Grant Co.
and part of Boone and Pendleton counties. It was a
three-week circuit and preaching was largely in
private homes. The Williamstown Methodist
Church was one of the two churches in the circuit.
Its old frame church building was destroyed by fire
in 1885, and for three years, the church held services in the courthouse. Under the leadership of
Dr. S. W. Spear, a brick church building was built
in 1888 and dedicated in 1891. It was part of the
Williamstown Methodist Preaching Circuit, sharing time with the Dry Ridge and Salem churches.

In 1892 the Williamstown Methodist Preaching
Circuit also included Bethel Grove. In 1915 the
Williamstown Methodist Church became a station church, with Rev. J. W. Carter as pastor.
During the pastorate of K. O. Potts (1937–1941),
a kitchen and classrooms were added, and there
was a ser vice of dedication in 1941. Methodist
Bishop Darlington delivered the dedicatory address. At this time the church had two missionary
societies, the Women’s Society of Christian Service, of which Mrs. L. M. Ackman was the first
president, and the Wesleyan Ser vice Guild, whose
first president was Mrs. H. T. Matthews. During the
pastorate of Rev. C. B. Hogg (1961–1964), an educational building was added to the church. The dedication of a new church building by Rev. Charles
Perry, district superintendent of the Covington
Methodist District, took place on August 23, 1970.
In May 1971, a large portion of the church’s indebtedness was paid off through a substantial gift from
the estate of Rev. George Ammerman and his wife,
Nellie.
In 1939, after consolidation of the Methodist
Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South; and the Methodist Protestant Church, the
Williamstown church dropped the word South
from its name. In 1968, when the Methodist Church
and the Evangelical United Brethren Church
merged, the name was changed once again. The
church is now officially known as the Williamstown United Methodist Church.
In January 2004, under the leadership and pastorate of Christopher Morgan, the Williamstown
United Methodist Church purchased the building
and parking area on the west side of the church
property in order to meet the immediate and longterm space needs of the church. Members and
friends now have access to ample parking near the
church. This space will be available for future classroom and activity uses as the church continues to
grow.
Conrad, John B., ed. History of Grant County, Kentucky. Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical
Society, 1993.
“Footsteps of the Past,” Grant County News, historical supplement, February 3, 1994, 2–5.
Williamstown United Methodist Church. www
.williamstownumc.com/History.aspx.

Marie Ackman

WILLIAMSTOWN WOMEN’S CLUB. The
Williamstown Women’s Club began during the
early 1920s when a group of women organized the
Welfare Club in Grant Co. The ladies met monthly
at the county courthouse and paid club dues of 10
cents per month. They visited the sick, donated food
for Christmas baskets, and brought fabrics to their
meetings to make clothing for the poor. In 1924 the
Welfare Club was reorganized as the Williamstown
Women’s Club, with Mrs. Thomas W. Clark as its
first president.
In 1926, when the club affi liated with the
General Federation of Women’s Clubs, it became
a part of one of the world’s largest and oldest nonpartisan, nondenominational women’s volunteer

WILLOW RUN

ser vice organizations. The club now gained an expanded role in the community, with an emphasis
on civic and self improvement. In the early years
the women’s club began a beautification project
that has resulted in the placement of many trees,
shrubs, and flowers throughout Grant Co. In
1939 the members established a book club that
later became the Grant Co. Public Library.
During World War II, the members sold Defense Bonds and Stamps, worked with the American Red Cross, and served on several home
front committees. They collected scrap, worked
with the Ration Board, donated blood, took fi rst
aid courses, made kit bags for the armed forces,
and baked cookies for the soldiers of Company C,
at Fort Thomas. When the Grant Co. Hospital
opened in the early 1960s, the club gave the $1,500
that it had been saving for a clubhouse, to help
furnish a room at the newly built hospital. Each
year the club awards scholarships to two local
high school seniors.
In recent years the Williamstown Women’s
Club has sponsored the establishment of the Arts
Federation, has been instrumental in bringing
Hospice Care and the Northern Kentucky University branch into the county, and has supported
the creation of a children’s garden at the new Grant
Co. Public Library. Currently, with a membership
of approximately 50 women, the club continues its
commitment to community improvement by encouraging its members to develop personal and
leadership skills and to participate in constructive
public ser vice.
Barnes, Betty M. “Williamstown Women’s Club History, 1921–1983,” vertical fi le, Grant Co. Public Library, Williamstown, Ky.
Clarke, Mrs. Thomas W. “History of Williamstown’s
Women’s Club, 1921–1942,” vertical fi le, Grant Co.
Public Library, Williamstown, Ky.

Barbara Loomis Brown

WILLIS, CHARLES H. (b. November 3, 1859,
Cincinnati, Ohio; d. January 27, 1951, Cincinnati,
Ohio). Charles Willis, the owner of a music store,
was the son of Harry and Caroline Willis, who were
born in England. He married Emma L. Wendt on
May 1, 1879, at Wesley Chapel Methodist Church
in Cincinnati; two of the family’s children lived to
adulthood. Charles Willis entered the sheet music
business in 1873. In 1899 he and his son William
began publishing materials specifically designed
for music teachers: teaching methods, collections,
and special sheet music. The Willis Music Company’s first store, at 41 E. Fourth St. in downtown
Cincinnati, was one of a cluster of music-related
businesses along Fourth St. between Walnut and
Elm Sts., including sheet music and instrument
dealers.
During the 1880s, the Willis family resided at
715 Monmouth St. in downtown Newport. From
the mid-1890s through at least the mid-1910s, they
lived in one of the most elegant residences in Newport: a turreted Queen Anne house at 525 E. Fourth
St., in the Mansion Hill district. The house was
built around 1894 of hard-fired brick with a porch

of smooth-dressed sandstone. Stained-glass windows (later removed) illuminated the front parlor
and the stair landing.
The Willis Music Company grew steadily by absorbing established local music businesses, including
the John Church Music Company and the George B.
Jennings Company. In 1901 the Willis music store
relocated to larger quarters in the William Hooper
Building at Fourth and Elm Sts. in Cincinnati. In
1910 the firm was renamed for William Willis, becoming W. H. Willis & Company. Shortly afterward,
however, William died, leaving his father as sole proprietor of the growing enterprise.
In 1919 Charles Willis sold his business to
Gustave Schirmer of Boston, Mass. Willis maintained a financial interest in the business after the
sale and kept a desk at the Fourth St. store. In addition to his business interests, Willis was an avid
tennis player and a member of the prestigious Cincinnati Club and the United Commercial Travelers.
In the 1920s, the Willis family sold their Newport house and moved to 3421 Middleton Ave. in a
part of Cincinnati known as Clifton. Charles died
at age 91 at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati in 1951
and was buried with his family at Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate.
During the 1950s, the Willis House in Newport’s Mansion Hill district was owned and occupied by Chef John Boyar and his wife, Margaret.
Like many big old houses in Newport’s East Row
Historic District, it was later divided into low-rent
apartments. As maintenance was deferred, the historic Willis mansion gradually deteriorated. In
1985 the house was sold to preservation-minded
new owners who renovated it and reversed many
of the unsympathetic alterations made by previous
owners. It was restored as a single-family residence
in 2006.
Eckberg, John. “Willis Music Celebrates 100 Years of
Ser vice,” CE, May 2, 1999, 6G.
Evergreen Cemetery Records, Southgate, Ky.
Garretson, Joseph. “In the Pink at 88 Years of Age,”
CE, May 4, 1947, 30.
“Music Company Founder Dies at 91—Charles H.
Willis,” CP, January 29, 1951, 20.

Margaret Warminiski

WILLOW (CREEK) BAPTIST CHURCH.
The Willow Creek Baptist Church in Bracken Co.
was established in 1818 under the auspices of the
Union Association of General Baptists, which in
1813 had started a church at North Fork in Bracken
Co. At the height of the Willow Baptist Church’s
membership in 1871, the congregation totaled
nearly 300 and was considered the “mother church”
to the Baptist churches that followed throughout
the county. Willow Baptist Church built a new
meetinghouse in about 1853 at the forks of Bullskin Rd. and Ky. Rt. 22 in Bracken Co.; it lasted
more than a century, until the modern brick facility in the village of Willow was dedicated in 1967.
That church building remains in ser vice today.
Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers. History of
Bracken County. Bicentennial ed. Brooksville, Ky.:
Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers, 2002.

WILLOW RUN. An 1830 map shows Willow
Run Creek flowing northward along the western
edge of Covington and emptying into the Ohio
River. The creek was an important source of water
for the early settlers and for the abundant wildlife
drawn to it. The land area that came to be known as
Willow Run derives its name from the Willow Run
Creek. One of the first owners of Willow Run was
Jacob Fowler, who later assigned the land to the
Bank of the U.S., in Philadelphia, in lieu of a mortgage. Thomas D. Carneal purchased the land
from the bank. In 1827 William Bullock purchased Elmwood Hall and 710 acres (including
Willow Run Creek) from Carneal. Bullock hoped
to build a dream city called Hygeia around Elmwood Hall. He attempted to obtain financing for
the project from investors in London, England, but
was not successful. He then reluctantly sold the
land to Israel Ludlow, who later started the city of
Ludlow. The new owner had Willow Run laid out
into lots, to form a development he named the
Ludlow Subdivision. Numerous houses were soon
built along the creek, including many near presentday Crescent Ave. in Covington.
Father James W. Smith organized the St. Patrick Catholic Church in 1872, for Englishspeaking residents living near Willow Run. He had
the church building designed by architect Louis
Piket and built by John G. Martin, at Fourth and
Philadelphia Sts. in Covington. St. Patrick Church
served the congregation well, for a century, before
closing when the land was sold for commercial use.
The St. Patrick’s congregation was then integrated
into the St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Covington. During the 1880s, commercial development
occurred along Willow Run, including construction of the Bavarian Brewery. Over the years, two
viaducts were built across the creek, one at Third St.
and the other at 12th St,, which provided better access to downtown Covington. For many years, parts
of the creek were used as a garbage dump, and some
areas became partially filled. In 1914, after a long legal battle, the City of Covington acquired rights to
build a major sewer line through the valley. An attempt was made in 1917 to develop a business district at Willow Run, but the move was not successful. Several ballparks were then built on the landfills,
including the Goebel Park at Sixth and Philadelphia
Sts. and the Covington Ballpark at Ninth and Philadelphia Sts. Over the years, the parks were used for
picnics, baseball and football games, and also performances by circuses.
The history of Willow Run somewhat parallels
what happened along the Sixth St. Fill (see Taylor’s Bottoms) in Newport. That area in Newport
was also once used as a landfi ll, later for ball fields,
and still later for commercial development and an
interstate highway. In 1957 the federal government
purchased the land along Willow Run for construction of I-75 (see Expressways). With the new highway came numerous commercial and industrial

964 WILLSON, AUGUSTUS E.
businesses to the area. However, the once beautiful
Willow Run valley soon disappeared from view,
and the creek began flowing through huge underground pipes. All that is now visible is an eightlane expressway.
“The City—Willow Run,” DC, February 18, 1880, 1.
“Cover for Dump; Blackburn to Give Relief to Citizens,” KP, September 17, 1927, 1.
Reis, Jim. “Tracing the Roots of Willow Run,” KP,
March 11, 1991, 4K.
“Renaissance of Ruin,” KP, August 24, 1994, 1K–2K.

WILLSON, AUGUSTUS E. (b. October 13, 1846,
Maysville, Ky.; d. August 24, 1931, Louisville, Ky.).
Augustus Everett Willson, who later became governor of Kentucky, was born in Maysville, the son of
Hiram and Ann Colvin Ennis Willson. He was the
younger brother of the poet Forceythe Willson.
Augustus was orphaned at the age of 12 and lived
for several years with relatives in New York and
Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University
at Cambridge, Mass., graduating with the class of
1869. He moved to Louisville in 1870 and studied
law under John Marshall Harlan, who later became
an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. After his apprenticeship, Willson was made a partner
in Harlan’s law firm. In 1875 Willson was appointed
chief clerk of the U.S. Treasury Department in
Washington, D.C., a position he held for just one
year. He married Mary Elizabeth Ekins in 1877,
and they had only one child, who died as an infant.
In a predominately Democratic state, Willson ran
as the Republican candidate for the Kentucky Senate in 1879 and was defeated. He then ran for the
U.S. House of Representatives in 1884, 1886, 1888,
and 1892 and lost each time. In 1907 he entered the
gubernatorial race against Democratic candidate
Samuel Wilber Hager and was elected Kentucky’s
36th governor; he served until 1911. As governor,
Willson declared martial law during the Black Patch
War (see Tobacco). His administration bogged
down over fights concerning the temperance issue
and tax reform. At the end of his four-year term,
Willson returned to his large and lucrative legal
practice in Louisville. He entered politics again in
1914 and was defeated by the Democratic former
Kentucky governor John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham (1900–1907) in his race for the U.S. Senate.
Willson died at age 84 and was buried in the Cave
Hill Cemetery, Louisville.
Kleber, John E., ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia.
Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1992.
The Political Graveyard. “Willson, August Everett.”
http://politicalgraveyard.com (accessed April 9,
2006).
Rootsweb. “Augustus E. Willson.” www.rootsweb.com
(accessed April 9, 2006).

WILLSON, FORCEYTHE (b. April 10, 1837,
Little Genesee, N.Y.; d. February 2, 1867, Alfred,
N.Y.). Poet Byron Forceythe Willson was born in a
one-room log cabin, the eldest child of Hiram and
Ann Colvin Ennis Willson. In 1846 Hiram Willson loaded his family and their possessions onto a
raft and descended the Allegheny River and then
the Ohio River, landing several days later at

Maysville, Ky. The family lived there for about a
year, and then moved downriver to Covington. In
his new city, Hiram, who had been superintendent
of the common schools of Allegheny Co., N.Y., was
instrumental in establishing the common school
system, and Forceythe’s early education was in the
Maysville and Covington common schools. In
1853 Hiram relocated his family to New Albany,
Ind. Ann Willson died there in 1856 and Hiram
died three years later. The parents left a sizable fortune to their children, making it possible for them
to receive a good education. Forceythe attended
Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio, for one
year and later Harvard University in Cambridge,
Mass. He contracted tuberculosis and had to leave
Harvard before graduating. In 1858 he became involved in spiritualism and claimed to have become
clairvoyant; he said he could read the contents of
sealed mail and even communicate with the dead.
He took a job as an editorial writer with the Louisville Journal, where, as the conflict between North
and South escalated, he wrote numerous articles in
support of preserving the Union.
Forceythe Willson married Elizabeth Conwell
Smith of New Albany, Ind., in 1863. They moved to
Cambridge, Mass., in early 1864, so he could supervise the education of his younger brother Augustus E. Willson, a future Kentucky governor
(1907–1911). Elizabeth Willson died there in fall
1864, at age 22. Forceythe did not grieve his wife’s
death, claiming that he continued to be in regular
contact with her.
While in Cambridge, Willson spent much of
his time writing poetry. His most famous poem,
titled “The Old Sergeant,” was first printed on the
front page of the Louisville Journal, anonymously.
A collection of his poetry was published in Boston
in 1866. Most of his poems had war time themes
and did not become well known—exceptions were
“The Old Sergeant” and “The Enemy”—though
some were published in the Atlantic Monthly. Although his poetry was not a commercial success,
it was his lifelong, consuming passion. His wife
had also been a poet, and Willson privately published her work in 1865. Many of his later poems
made references to his deceased wife. Willson’s
tuberculosis became progressively worse, and he
suffered a severe hemorrhage of his lungs in fall
1866. He died several months later at the age of 29;
both husband and wife were buried in a small, illkept graveyard in the Whitewater Valley, at Laurel,
Ind.
Piatt, John James. “Forceythe Willson,” Atlantic
Monthly 35, no. 209 (March 1879): 332–44.
Townsend, John Wilson. Kentucky in American Letters, 1784–1912. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Torch Press,
1913.
Virtualology. “Willson, Forceythe.” www.famousamer
icans.net (accessed May 2, 2006).
Willson, Forceythe. The Old Sergeant, and Other
Poems. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.

WILMINGTON. The little town of Wilmington,
situated on the land of John Grant (see Grant
Family), was established by the Kentucky General
Assembly on December 7, 1793. Located on the

west side of the Licking River, opposite modern
Grant’s Lick in modern Kenton Co., the town was
laid out in 100 lots. Purchasers had to agree to build,
within four years, a house measuring at least 18 by
20 feet with a brick or stone chimney. The first
trustees chosen for the town were Matthias Corwine, Joseph Floyd, Squire Grant, John Hay, William Henry, John Sanders, and John Thrasher.
When Campbell Co. was created in 1795, Wilmington was chosen as the county seat of Campbell
Co., owing to its central location. Because no public
buildings had been constructed yet, the first quarter session of the court was held at the home of John
Grant, for whom Grant’s Lick is named. At that
meeting Capt. Nathan Kelly was chosen to be the
first sheriff and James Taylor Jr. was chosen as the
clerk of courts. The justices selected for the first
quarter sessions of the court were Washington
Berry, John Craig, Charles Daniel Sr., John Grant,
and John’s brother Squire Grant. Permits were issued to John Grant to build a sawmill on the Licking River and to operate a ferry at Wilmington.
James Taylor Jr., one of the wealthiest men in
Kentucky, had numerous friends in the military and
in the federal government, including his cousins
Zachary Taylor and James Madison. Since Taylor
lived in Newport, he used his influence to move the
county seat there in 1796. When Kenton Co. was
fashioned from land west of the Licking in 1840,
the court decided to locate the county seat near the
geographic center of what remained of Campbell
Co. It was decided that Alexandria best met that criterion. However, it soon became apparent that since
most of the county’s population lived near Newport,
it would be more convenient to handle much of the
court business there. So, in effect, Campbell Co. had
two county seats, with Alexandria handling the rural business and Newport the urban. Tiny Wilmington was soon abandoned, and with the help of
Licking River floods, it ceased to exist.
Collins, Richard H. History of Kentucky. Vol. 1.
Covington, Ky.: Collins, 1882.
Hartman, Margaret Strebel, and W. Rus Stevens.
Campbell County Kentucky History and Genealogy. Campbell Co., Ky.: W. R. Stevens, 1984.
Reis, Jim. “Doorway to Kentucky Licking River Gave
Rise to Settlement,” KP, June 17, 1996, 4K.
Tenkotte, Paul A. “Rival Cities to Suburbs: Covington
and Newport, Kentucky, 1790–1890,” PhD diss.,
Univ. of Cincinnati, 1989.

WILMINGTON BAPTIST CHURCH. The
Wilmington Baptist Church, located at 11111
Madison Pk. in Fiskburg in southern Kenton Co.,
was orga nized on June 2, 1804, with six members.
The congregation met at fi rst in a log structure in
the Wilmington Bottoms at the confluence of
Cruises Creek and the Licking River near Bryant’s Ford. The building also served as a school, a
post office, and the court house (of Campbell Co.
at that time). In 1842 members of the church sold
the land by the Licking River and bought property in Fiskburg, where the church, which kept
the name Wilmington Baptist Church, is presently located. The present brick structure is the
third one on the Fiskburg site. The fi rst was a log

WINTERSHEIMER, DONALD C.

building 30 by 60 feet, and the second was a oneroom white frame meeting house that was completed in 1875. The second building was dismantled in 1952 to make way for the current brick
structure, which was dedicated on August 30,
1953. Later, a two-story education wing was
added to the building and a brick parsonage was
built across from the church.
The extensive Wilmington Baptist cemetery
contains graves from the early 1840s through the
present. Many graves date from the winter of 1917–
1918, when influenza struck the community. The
proximity of the cemetery to the church has helped
to keep it well maintained and protected from
vandals.
The Wilmington Baptist Church congregation
has started several other churches in the area. In
1850, 20 members left to form the Crittenden Baptist Church. In 1858 the Oak Island Baptist Church
was constituted by members who had attended at
Wilmington. Two more spin-off churches followed: the Gardnersville Baptist Church (1891)
and the DeMossville Baptist Church (1915). The
most recent church begun by Wilmington members was the Piner Baptist Church (1952). The
Wilmington Baptist Church is part of the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association, which is affi liated with the Southern Baptist denomination. The
current pastor is Bill Scott, who began serving the
church in June 2003. Over the years, the church
has been the site of several series of special meetings; at one of those, in 1996, the popu lar Ball
Family Singers held their homecoming.
“Fiskburg Revival,” KP, March 24, 1996, 12K.
“Gospel Music to Fill the Air at Ball Family Homecoming,” KP, August 31, 1996, 6K.
“Historic Cemetery to Be Beautified,” Falmouth Outlook, October 17, 1924, 4.

Pat Workman

WILSON, EARL D. (b. October 16, 1887, Independence, Ky.; d. April 16, 1910, Annapolis, Md.).
Football player Earl Wilson was the son of Wesley
Berry and Lydia Beall Miles Wilson. His mother
died in 1891, shortly after giving birth to his brother
L. B. Wilson. Earl was educated locally in Covington schools, graduating from the old Covington
High School. In 1906 he entered the U.S. Naval
Academy at Annapolis, Md., where he became a
leader in athletic programs: he played third base for
Navy’s baseball team and quarterback on the Midshipmen football squad.
On his 22nd birthday, October 16, 1909, tragedy struck Wilson. During a football game in Philadelphia, Pa., against Villanova University, while
attempting a flying tackle, he broke his neck and
sustained severe spinal cord damage. In those days,
players saw action on both sides (offense and defense) of the football game. For six months, Wilson
lingered in the Annapolis Naval Hospital, alternately improving and declining, until his death in
April 1910.
Despite the navy’s desire to bury their football
hero at Annapolis, his body was returned to Covington for a funeral at the home of his brother-inlaw Maurice L. Galvin, at 422 Garrard St. Wilson

was buried next to his mother in the Independence
Cemetery in Independence. Massive funeral ceremonies were held at both Annapolis and Covington. His death, along with a few others in college
football action at about the same time, led the football rules committee to make changes in what was
permissible in games played on the gridiron. Other
Northern Kentuckians, such as Latonia’s Ron
Beagle, Newport’s Alex “Zeke” Zechella, and Bellevue’s Pat Uebel, followed Wilson to Annapolis to
play football for Navy’s Midshipmen.
“A Clipping,” KP, January 18, 1910, 2.
“Death Ends Long Fight of ‘Middie,’ ” CTS, April 16,
1910, 2.
“Earl Wilson Is Buried,” NYT, April 19, 1910, 6.
“Earl Wilson May Recover,” NYT, November 19,
1909, 9.
“ ‘Soccer’ Football May Be New Game,” NYT, November 2, 1909, 10.

WILSON, L. B. (b. May 20, 1891, Covington,
Ky.; d. October 28, 1954, Cincinnati, Ohio). Lyda
Beall Wilson, a banker, theater owner, and radio
station operator, was the son of Wesley Berry and
Lyda Beall Miles Wilson. His mother died 11 days
after giving birth to him, so he was named Lyda
Beall Wilson. He grew up in Covington, where
his father was once the Kenton Co. clerk, and
graduated from the Covington High School in
1910. After leaving school, he and his brother
Hansford toured Eu rope with a theatrical group.
He returned in 1912 and was hired as manager of
the Colonial Theater in Covington. About a year
later, he opened a tobacco store at Sixth St. and
Madison Ave., in Covington and operated it for
several years. The smoke shop featured a Richard
P. Ernst cigar. In 1915 he was named secretary of
the Covington Industrial Club, the forerunner of
the Covington Chamber of Commerce (see
Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce).
He became president of the club in 1929. Wilson
joined with Senator Richard Pretlow Ernst,
George Hill, and Polk Laffoon Jr. in an investment group, which purchased a chain of local
movie theaters, including the Hippodrome, the
Liberty, the Lyric, the Rialto, and the Strand. In
1926 Wilson and Ernst bought the controlling interest in the People’s Savings Bank and Trust
Company. Two years later, the bank merged with
Liberty National Bank to form the People’s-Liberty Bank and Trust Company. In the new
bank, Ernst served as president and Wilson as executive vice president. At that time, the bank was
the second-largest in Kentucky. In September
1929 Wilson started radio station WCKY in
Covington. The station initially operated at just
5,000 watts, but the power was later increased to
50,000 watts. In 1939 WCKY moved its headquarters to the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati. Wilson married movie star Jean Oliver on October 7,
1929, and they moved into a home on Summit
Ln., in Fort Mitchell. No children were born to
the couple. They separated on June 28, 1948, but
never divorced. Some of the organizations Wilson was affi liated with during his colorful career
were Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, the

965

Cincinnati and Covington Bridge Company, the
Doerman-Roher Company in Cincinnati, LincolnFields Racetrack in Illinois, and the Houston,
Stanwood & Gamble Company in Covington.
He was also a longtime member of the Elks Club
(see Civic Associations) and the Masonic Lodge
(see Masons). In 1954 Wilson died at age 63 in
Cincinnati and was buried in Miami, Fla.
“About This Guy,” KP, March 9, 1929, 1.
“Banker Marries Actress,” KP, October 8, 1920, 1.
Kenton Co. Public Library. “Covington Biographies:
L. B. Wilson.” www.kenton.lib.ky.us (accessed
April 25, 2006).
Kleber, John E., ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia.
Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1992.

Jack Wessling

WINGATE, CYRUS (b. ca. 1790, place of birth
unknown; d. after 1840, Owen Co.) Cyrus Wingate was the first sheriff of Owen Co. The earliest
record of him is his marriage to Emily Milly Spicer
in May 1808 in Franklin Co. Wingate was present
when Owen Co. was established in 1819 and was
part of the committee that built the first jail
and court house. He held several governmental
positions over the years: sheriff from 1819 to 1821;
county tax commissioner in 1820; state representative 1824 to 1827; and state senator from 1828 to
1841. He and his wife Emily (perhaps his second
wife) had 14 children, one of whom was Penelope
Wingate Sullivan. Penelope Sullivan is the person
from whom the village of Ep in Owen Co. derives
its name: local children called her “Aunt Ep” because they had difficulty pronouncing “Penelope”;
and since “Aunt Ep” lived there, the area became
known as Ep.
Houchens, Mariam Sidebottom. History of Owen
County: “Sweet Owen.” Louisville, Ky.: Standard,
1976.

WINTERSHEIMER, DONALD C. (b. April
21, 1931, Covington, Ky.). Former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Donald C. Wintersheimer is
the son of Carl E. and Marie Kohl Wintersheimer.
He graduated from Newport Catholic High School
in Newport in 1949 and received his BA from Villa
Madonna College (now Thomas More College) in
Covington, his MA from Xavier University in Cincinnati, and his JD from the University of Cincinnati Law School. He was in private practice and
served for 14 years as city solicitor for the City of
Covington. In 1976 he was elected to the Kentucky
Court of Appeals and in 1982 to the Kentucky Supreme Court (formerly called the Kentucky Court
of Appeals); he was reelected in 1990 and in 1998.
He is known as the most prolific writer on the
court, averaging more than 40 written opinions a
year.
A member of the adjunct faculty of Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University
(NKU), Wintersheimer teaches a seminar course in
state constitutional law. His writings have appeared
in the NKU Chase Law School’s Law Review and
in numerous other law journals. Wintersheimer
has been recognized as a distinguished alumnus of

966 WIREMAN, WALLY
the College of Law of the University of Cincinnati.
He is a former president of the Kentucky Municipal Attorney’s Association and a founding member
of the Chase American Inn of Court. He has received numerous awards from Thomas More College and is a former president of its Alumni Association. He and his wife, Alice, reside in Covington
and are the parents of five children, three of whom
are lawyers.
“Covington Native Is Senior Ky. Supreme Court Justice,” Challenger, July 18, 2004, 5A.
Kentucky Court of Justice. www.kycourts.net.
Wintersheimer, Donald. Interview by Donna M.
Bloemer, December 9, 2004, Frankfort, Ky.

Donna M. Bloemer

WIREMAN, WALLY (b. June 19, 1919, Beaver
Lick, Boone Co., Ky.). Wallace H. Wireman, an inventor, an engineer, an author, and a businessman,
was born to John and Augusta Wireman. He earned
a BA in engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an MA in business administration from Wittenberg University in Ohio. Since
1952 he has resided in Walton, where he quietly plies
his problem-solving and engineering talents at his
companies, WIRED Inc. and AQW Inc. The possessor of 14 patents and two registered U.S. trademarks, he designs and manufactures many replacement parts for the U.S. military and for industry.
His creative genius has played a role in the development of hundreds of modern products, such as the
electronic supermarket checkout scanner, the vacuum tubes at bank teller drive-through windows,
the wheeled golf club caddy, the hand-operated
roller for reading credit cards, and drinking faucet
filters. He owns the Walton-based AQW (Always
Quality Work) Inc. and serves as engineering consultant for the firm, which he founded in the 1970s
with his wife, Frances Flynn Wireman. The company has approximately 15 employees and is a government defense contractor and supplier of military
parts for use in submarines, tanks, and aircraft. Its
customer base includes NATO-member foreign
governments and the United Nations as well as the
U.S. government.
Twice the federal government has honored
Wireman. He received the Department of Defense
Value Engineering award for development of superior cost-effective and efficient products, and he
was given a Certificate of Appreciation from the
Department of Defense for his contributions to the
success of Operation Desert Storm and Operation
Iraqi Freedom. He also served in the U.S. Air Force
during World War II, attaining the rank of master sergeant.
Wireman probably is best known for his invention and design of desiccants, or dehydrators,
which eliminate moisture from missiles, fighter
planes, and military equipment. In 1972 he invented a molecular adsorber, which, operating on
similar principles, removes moisture from molecules and also eliminates odors. AQW Inc. has
made hundreds of thousands of these products
and supplied them to the U.S. military, saving the
government significant amounts of money. The

molecular adsorber is made available commercially through Wireman’s other company, WIRED
(Wireman Industrial Research Engineering and
Development) Inc. and is sold under the names
Adzorbit and Adsorb Star. These products, which
first entered the market in 1988, remove odors and
gases; they can even remove cigarette smoke odors
from large spaces. Using small pellets of sodium
aluminosilicate, the products draw moisture and
odor molecules into themselves, thereby eliminating odor from the environment rather than hiding it. Wireman holds trademarks for Adsorb Star
as well as for a product called Toxic Out, which
works similarly to remove toxic fumes and gases
from the air. Toxic Out is currently used in the
printing industry as well as in the X-ray, radiology, and pathology departments of health care
facilities.
Wireman has been a consumer safety advocate
for most of his adult life, testifying regarding electrical safety as an expert witness at trials and before
U.S. congressional hearings and committees. In
2003 he published The Call to Solve: What Every
Fireman Should Know, which details his thoughts
on electrical safety.
Wireman showed a natural genius for engineering, electronics, and creativity, even as a child.
One of his first inventions was a basic intercom
system that allowed his mother to summon him by
“buzzing” his attic bedroom with the touch of a
button. During the days before indoor plumbing,
he also laid electrical wiring to illuminate the family outhouse. He was an industrious youth, either
figuring things out on his own or learning from library books about electronics and engineering. He
created his own toys from unwanted parts found
in junkyards, built a bicycle tire out of a broken
piece of garden hose, and rebuilt a Ford Model T
automobile with a friend. During his teens, he
worked as a golf caddy, and this work inspired him
to develop the first pull cart for golf clubs.
During his youth, Wireman’s family moved
from Kentucky to Cincinnati, so that his father
could take a job as a laborer with the Frank Taylor
Company. The move allowed Wireman to attend
and graduate from Withrow High School in that
city. Afterward, the young Wireman also began
work as a laborer at the Frank Taylor Company
and was quickly promoted to maintenance electrician, supervisor, and then chief industrial engineer. He is a self-proclaimed problem-solver, who
enjoys inventing solutions and then seeking out
the next challenge. The now 87-year-old inventor
maintains a daily presence at AQW Inc. and often
answers the phone there.
Fulmer, Kelly F., executive vice president and chief
operations officer, AQW Inc. Interview by Sarah A.
Barlage, February 12, 2006, Walton, Ky.
“Saving Money for Uncle Sam,” KP, February 6, 1990,
1K–2K.
Toxic Out: Molecular Adzorber. www.adzorbit.com
(accessed July 2, 2006).
Wireman, Wally, president of AQW Inc. and WIRED
Inc. Interview by Sarah A. Barlage, June 28, 2006,
Union, Ky.

Sarah A. Barlage

WISENALL, BERNARD T. (b. September 4,
1869, Maysville, Ky.; d. July 16, 1942, Covington,
Ky.). Bernard T. Wisenall was the son of John Bernard and Jane Eckmann Campbell Wisenall. In
April 1893 he formed a partnership with Louis E.
Dittoe, to create the architectural firm of Dittoe
and Wisenall. The firm’s architects designed a
number of buildings in Northern Kentucky, including the Covington City Hall (on E. Third St. between
Court and Greenup Sts., demolished), the Kentucky
Post Building, the First Christian Church, Covington, and an addition to the Citizens National
Bank Building. They also designed the Pugh Building (later called the Polk Building) in Cincinnati. In
1900 Wisenall married Emma Rambo of Newport.
The partnership of Dittoe and Wisenall was dissolved in 1910, when Dittoe took a teaching position
at the Ohio Mechanics Institute in Cincinnati.
Wisenall continued to design buildings in
Covington on his own, including an addition to
the Kelley-Koett Company’s building. With architect Chester Disque, he drew the plans for the John
G. Carlisle Junior High School and the Third District School and was the project architect for the
1917 Dixie Highway Beautification Project. In
1924 he designed the Ben Adams Insurance Building on the northwest corner of Fift h St. and Madison Ave. Three years later, he drew plans for the
Girls Friendly Building at the Trinity Episcopal
Church. He was a staunch supporter of the Covington YMCA. Wisenall died at age 72 at his
home, Hathaway Hall, at 1210 Highway Ave. in
Covington. Funeral ser vices were held at the Trinity Episcopal Church, and he was buried at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell.
“Covington Architect,” KP, January 2, 1917, 1.
Kenton Co. Public Library. “Covington Biographies:
Bernard T. Wisenall.” www.kenton.lib.ky.us (accessed September 24, 2007).
“New Building on Way,” KP, May 15, 1924, 1.
Tenkotte, Paul A. A Heritage of Art and Faith:
Downtown Covington Churches. Covington, Ky.:
Kenton Co. Historical Society, 1986.

WITHERS FAMILY. The Withers family, merchants residing in Covington in 1861, found themselves “caught in the middle” when hostilities broke
out in the Civil War. Descended from a longestablished line of colonial Virginians, the proSouth Withers family were tobacco merchants.
Their company’s suppliers certainly had Southern
sympathies, and to a lesser extent the same was
true of customers in the markets they served; but
the Withers family operated their tobacco business
in a region that was predominantly pro-Union.
The patriarch of the family was Charles A.
Withers, who was born in Stafford Co., Va., on
June 10, 1800. His wife, Matilda Lynch, was born
in Lynchburg, Va., on September 6, 1811. They arrived in Northern Kentucky about 1836, and
Charles became a partner in the Withers & Carpenter Company, tobacco manufacturers. The
business was located in Cincinnati, but the family
lived in Covington at Greenup and Market Sts.
(Park Pl.). Charles A. Withers was a founder of
Trinity Episcopal Church, a member of the

WNKU

Covington City Council during the 1840s, the first
superintendent of the Kentucky Central Railroad, and president of the local branch of Frankfort’s Farmers Bank. As superintendent of the railroad, he built the first 18 miles of track south of
Covington with his own money. His daughter Elizabeth Sally Withers married Eli Metcalf Bruce,
who shared the Withers family’s Southern sympathies and who was involved in helping to finance the
Confederate Army. It was said that the Witherses’
home might as well have been a hospital, because the
family often took in people in need. Charles Withers
died while visiting relatives in Waynesville, Ohio,
on Saturday, August 10, 1863, at the height of the
war, and was buried at Linden Grove Cemetery in
Covington.
Charles and Matilda had several children, the
most celebrated being their son Charles A. Withers,
who preferred to be known as C. A. Withers. Born
in 1843 at Covington, he joined the Southern cause
during the Civil War and rode with the famed
Southern Cavalry raider, Gen. John Hunt Morgan.
Withers rose to the rank of major and was Morgan’s
adjutant. After Morgan’s death, a wake was held for
him at the Witherses’ home in the 600 block of Sanford St. in Covington. C. A. Withers moved to Augusta, Ga., after the war. He married the wellconnected Clara De Antignac, a French Huguenot
belle, and soon became one of the largest cotton
brokers in the South. Later, he returned to Northern
Kentucky and became the associate editor and
drama critic for the Cincinnati Commercial newspaper. After his wife Clara died in 1913, Withers resided either at the Kentucky Confederate Home at
Pewee Valley outside of Louisville or at the Hotel
Emery in Cincinnati. He died from Bright’s disease
at age 82 on March 23, 1923, at the Booth Hospital
and was buried in the family plot at Linden Grove
Cemetery in Covington.
In 1915 the City of Covington named a park for
the elder Withers in recognition of his ser vices on
the city’s park board. Today, this park, located between Greenup and Scott Sts., is covered with
pavement and called Park Pl.
“Death of an Old Citizen,” CDE, August 11, 1863, 3.
Kentucky Death Certificate No. 8547, for the year
1923.
“Major C. A. Withers Dies,” KE, March 24, 1923, 3.
Reis, Jim. “Covington Park Bloomed Briefly, Then
Disappeared under Concrete,” KP, August 26,
1991, 4K.
“Remains of Gen. Morgan,” CJ, April 18, 1868, 3.

WITHROW, ETTA M. SMITH (b. March 4,
1937, Owen Co., Ky.; d. June 14, 2000, Lexington,
Ky.). Etta Maude Smith Withrow, a chief warrant
officer, was the daughter of Lt. Col. Albert Clarence and Mary Etta Power Smith. Although Withrow traveled the world as the child of a military father and the wife of a naval officer, she considered
Owen Co. her home and returned to live there with
her mother in the family home on Cedar Creek for
several years. Withrow had one child, John Clarence Withrow.
Gen. Billy Wellman, the state adjutant general,
appointed Etta Withrow as the first female warrant

officer of the Kentucky National Guard in 1974.
She retired in 1990 as chief warrant officer. Withrow was also the first woman in Kentucky to serve
on the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Veterans Affairs. She researched and prepared the adjutant general’s report to the Kentucky legislature on
the Vietnam Veterans bonus program. She served
as a volunteer Veterans Administration ser vice officer for veterans in Anderson Co. and as field representative for the Women’s Military Memorial
Foundation.
Withrow’s military awards included the Meritorious Ser vice Medal, the Army Commendation
Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Humanitarian Ser vice Award, the Army Reserve
Components Achievement Medal, the Kentucky
Distinguished Ser vice Medal, the Kentucky Commendation Medal, the Kentucky Merit Medal, and
the Kentucky State Active Duty Medal. Withrow
was regent and treasurer for the Susannah Hart
Shelby Chapter of the National Society of the
Daughters of the American Revolution; vice president of the River Raisin Chapter of the United
Daughters of the War of 1812; president of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy Chapter 7; a
member of the National Guard Association of the
United States and Kentucky, American Legion
Post 7; and vice president of the Bluegrass Chapter
of the Retired Officers Association. After a long illness, she died at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington in 2000 and was buried at the Monterey
Cemetery in Monterey.
“Etta Maude Smith Withrow, 63,” Owenton (Ky.)
News-Herald, June 21, 2000, 6.
“Etta Withrow,” State Journal, June 15, 2000, 2.
“Etta Withrow Dies: Was Chief Warrant Officer,”
Lexington Herald-Leader, June 15, 2000, B2.
Murphy, Margaret Alice Karsner. The Power Line
and Connections: Nine Generations in America.
Frankfort, Ky.: Lynn, 2000.
State Journal, May 16–22, 1994.

Margaret A. Murphy

WNKU. At 5:30 a.m. on April 29, 1985, WNKU,
the fledgling public radio station of Northern Kentucky University (NKU), aired its initial broadcast
on the local FM band. News director Maryanne
Zeleznik, who had been hired just two weeks before,
was the first live voice broadcast on the 89.7 MHz
frequency. NKU could at last leave behind its unwanted distinction as the only state-supported university in Kentucky without a radio station. That
first broadcast was the culmination of a seven-year
struggle advanced by Dr. N. Edd Miller, chair of the
school’s Communications Department. Miller and
members of his staff were joined by various university administrators, officials, and personnel in their
endeavor to secure a spot on the local radio dial for
WNKU-FM.
Their exhaustive efforts had garnered the support of university president Dr. Leon Boothe as
well as the long-awaited approval of the Federal
Communications Commission. General manager Rick Pender painstakingly laid the groundwork for WNKU’s early success by guiding the

967

station through the complicated certification and
programming-approval process necessary to secure public radio status. A location near the student dormitories was selected for the tower and the
12,000-watt transmitter. Construction and installation of both components—completed between
January and April of 1985—provided the station
with a broadcast range that reached audiences
within a 30-mile radius of the school’s Highland
Heights campus. Several classrooms on the third
floor of the Landrum Academic Center were converted into the station’s offices and studio, which
consisted of 1,800 square feet. The start-up costs,
which totaled approximately $300,000, were raised
by the university through donations from various
foundations, corporations, and private donors.
WNKU, the third National Public Radio (NPR)
station serving the Northern Kentucky and Greater
Cincinnati area, honored its local roots with its folk
music programming and south-of-the-river news
reporting. Another reason behind WNKU’s focus
on Northern Kentucky was its directional broadcast signal, which afforded stronger reception to the
south than to the north. Although the station’s
news and public affairs coverage did not extend beyond the borders of its home base during WNKU’s
early years, nationally syndicated features such as
NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition served to widen its programming scope and
broaden its audience appeal. The station’s music
programming was a bold departure from that of
other public and commercial radio station formats
up and down the crowded dial. Touting itself as
“Kentucky Folk Radio,” WNKU embodied its slogan within its expansive and eclectic mix of rustic
Kentucky bluegrass, Appalachian music, and international folk-based selections as well as similar
offerings from various regions across America.
The station’s first fund drive in June 1985 raised
$3,000. Within six months of its first broadcast, the
station’s second public appeal, a four-day fundraising and subscription-membership drive, easily
met its $10,000 goal. In a tremendous show of local
support, 250 of the station’s 453 members signed up
during the drive. In July 1985 the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting approved WNKU for funding,
thus qualifying the station to receive a $16,000 base
grant along with the promise of future incentive
grants.
NKU holds the station’s license and supplies a
percentage of its operating funds, but supplemental contributions from membership drives and
support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting make WNKU editorially independent of
the university while also supporting its positive
community presence and outreach goals. Additionally, the noncommercial programming offered on
WNKU prohibits the airing of revenue-generating
commercials, although businesses, corporations, or
other organizations may underwrite programming
costs with grants, for which they receive on-air acknowledgment. Currently, 60 percent of the station’s
funding is generated by membership and underwriting, 30 percent is supplied by NKU, and 10 percent is received from the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting.

968 WNOP
Decreasing the station’s dependency on university funding was one of the two goals general
manager David Arnold was presented with when
he was hired in 1991; the second was attracting
more listeners. When focus group studies identified that a large proportion of WNKU’s audience
lived in Ohio and Indiana, the station’s news coverage was broadened to include areas within the
I-275 loop (see Expressways). That same year, music director Dan Reed modified WNKU’s former
all-folk programming by adopting a more progressive “Triple A” format—musical selections with an
adult, album, and alternative focus. In keeping
with the station’s new direction, WNKU touted itself as “The Natural Alternative” and as “A New
Direction in Acoustic Music.” As it made these
changes, WNKU carefully preserved its tremendously popu lar niche programs, such as Katie
Laur’s bluegrass show Music from the Hills of
Home, Kathy Costello’s A Celtic Afternoon, and
Bob Beemon’s Mr. Rhythm Man.
In 1995 WNKU’s 10-year anniversary celebration was buoyed by listeners’ positive responses to
the station’s expanded news and music programming. The popu lar public radio station boasted a
weekly audience of 25,000 to 30,000 listeners, a
significant increase from its 1991 totals, which averaged between 15,000 and 20,000. General manager Ben Singleton, hired in 2003, cited an even
more impressive figure: 38,200 listeners per week
were tuning in to 89.7 FM. Singleton also noted
that the percentage of Ohio listeners—over the
years averaging 80 percent, to Kentucky’s 20
percent—had evolved in recent years along with
population shifts; Kentucky listeners accounted
for approximately 40 percent of the station’s audience. The station has also taken advantage of developing technology to expand its broadcasting
schedule and enhance audience accessibility. In
January 2003, after purchasing a digital audio delivery system, WNKU began 24-hour broadcasting; in February 2006 the station began offering
on-demand features and podcasts via its Web site.
Local publications have also affirmed the station’s
tremendous public appeal; Cincinnati CityBeat,
Cincinnati Magazine, and Everybody’s News
have recognized WNKU as the “Best Station in
Cincinnati.”
Under the longtime leadership of news director Maryanne Zeleznik—who, just before her August 2005 departure, was the only original WNKU
employee—the station’s news department won numerous national, regional, and local awards and
honors. The Public Radio News Directors Inc.,
Ohio’s Society of Professional Journalists, and the
Kentucky Associated Press and Radio-Television
News Directors Association are among the prestigious organizations that have repeatedly honored
the WNKU News Department in many areas, including broadcast and feature writing, newscasting, and investigative reporting.
When WGUC-FM purchased public radio station WVXU-FM, WNKU lost Zeleznik and fellow
news veteran Jay Hanselman to WGUC. General
manager Singleton seized the opportunity to make
programming and personnel changes that enable

WNKU to maintain its long-standing commitment to Northern Kentucky news and public affairs coverage while also reshuffling and reshaping
its winning mix of music and nationally syndicated program offerings. In December 2007 Chuck
Miller became station manager.
WNKU’s current slogan “NPR and great music!” clearly identifies the programming pillars
upon which the station’s award-winning reputation
has been built. The station has been under the banner of NKU’s University Advancement Division
since 1999. In addition to WNKU, the division includes the Office of University Development, the
Office of Marketing and Communications, the Office of Alumni Programs, the Office of Special
Events, and the NKU Foundation. These dynamic
offices work collaboratively to advance NKU’s mission of “becoming a preeminent learner-centered,
metropolitan university recognized for its contributions to the intellectual, social, economic, cultural and civic vitality of its region and of the
Commonwealth.”
“FM Radio Station Approved for Northern,” KP, January 24, 1983, 10K.
Hall, Gregory A. “Fine-Tuning Sound of Public
Radio—WNKU General Manager Hopes to Find
Format, News Focus in Station’s Roots,” KP, June
25, 1991, 10K.
Kiesewetter, John. “WNKU Celebrates a 20-Year Musical Mix,” KE, April 28, 2005, E1.
Kreimer, Peggy. “WNKU’s Pender Leaving Station,”
KP, August 8, 1985, 9K.
Miller, N. Edd. Letter to members regarding WNKU’s
one-year anniversary, Kentucky Folk Radio
(WNKU newsletter/pamphlet), April 1986.
Pender, Rick. “All Grown Up: Over 20 Years, Bouncing Baby WNKU Matures into Popu lar Radio Station,” Cincinnati CityBeat, 2005, www.best-of
-cincinnati.com/ (accessed August 3, 2006).
University Advancement. “Welcome to University
Advancement.” Northern Kentucky Univ. http://
advancement.nku.edu/page.asp?p=0110000 (accessed August 3, 2006).
“WNKU-FM: On the Air for 10 Years,” KP, April 24,
1995, 1K.
Zeleznik, Maryanne. Telephone interview by Jan Mueller, February 22, 2005.

Janice Mueller

WNOP. Radio station WNOP-AM originated in
1946 in the minds of a handful of businessmen of
the Tri-City Broadcasting Company of Newport.
The group, headed by James Lang, former sheriff
of Campbell Co., sought a radio station operating
at 1110 kilocycles with one kilowatt of power for
the daytime only, a so-called sunrise station. At
the time of their application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), another station
was being proposed at Dayton, Ohio, using the
same frequency. In early November 1946, hearings were held in Washington, D.C., and on May
29, 1947, the FCC granted a license to Tri-City
Broadcasting and denied the application for the
Ohio station. The call letters for the new radio station in Newport were to be WWNL. It appeared
that Tri-City Broadcasting would be able to proceed with plans, but they had to be put on hold

when the Dayton, Ohio, group appealed the FCC
decision. In the meantime, Tri-City’s newly purchased transmitting equipment was destroyed in
a warehouse fire in Fort Thomas. Finally, after
months of renegotiating and reengineering, TriCity Broadcasting applied for construction of a
station operating on 740 kilocycles, which was approved May 14, 1948. The transmitter was constructed in a field at Cold Spring, off Johns Hill
Rd., and the studio was located on the second
floor of the building at 606 Monmouth St. in
Newport, above the old Mustang Bar. At 12:10
p.m., August 21, 1948, WNOP signed on the air
for the fi rst time. The fi rst announcer introduced
A. B. “Happy” Chandler (Kentucky governor
1935–1939 and 1955–1959), who was on hand for
the occasion.
WNOP was not affi liated with a radio network; the original format was a combination of
radio shows and country music programming. In
1956 Ray Scott, who later became one of the top
25 country disc jockeys in the nation, joined the
team at WNOP. In 1962, amid pressure to compete and gain a more stable and loyal audience,
the station changed its the format to all jazz. Oscar Treadwell was one of the station’s well-known
jazz personalities. In 1972 the original owners
sold the station to Cincinnatian Al Vontz, owner
of a beer distributorship in Ohio. Immediately,
the rent charged the studio in Newport was
raised, and Vontz made a major change in the station. He teamed with designer David Ziegler and
arranged to have a new studio built. The Jazz Ark,
the new studio’s nickname, was constructed out
of three oil tanks welded together, each 12 feet in
diameter and 20 feet long. Together they held five
rooms on two floors with interconnecting doors
and stairs. The ark was built at Tucker Marine.
Each tank was equipped with 20,000 pounds of
ballast, and the facility was placed in the Ohio
River to become a floating studio. It was anchored
at the Stadium Marina, just east of the mouth of
the Licking River. Windows made to look like
large portholes gave the studio a bird’s-eye view
of the Cincinnati skyline. Above the studio were
the large red neon letters WNOP; they produced
an amazing sight at night, glimmering on the
river. From there, Carolyn Rose, wife of Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose, broadcast her show on
WNOP.
The Jazz Ark, also known as “Radio Free Newport,” continued until 1989, when the station decided to move from its tiny offices to a larger space
in Cincinnati. The ark was donated to the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Then in 1992, to
accommodate the growing interest in national
news, the station dropped its jazz format and adopted Ted Turner’s CNN Headline News format
from 6:00 a.m. to dusk daily. In 1994 the jazz format returned, and it continued until Sacred Heart
Radio purchased the station at the end of 2000. On
January 1, 2001, the WNOP format became religious programming. In January 2006 the new station, with the same WNOP call letters, celebrated
five years of success; its studio is at the Holy Spirit
Center in Norwood, Ohio.

WOLF, JOANNES “BROTHER COSMAS”
(b. January 6, 1822, Grosskissendorf, Swabia;
d. April 7, 1894, Latrobe, Pa.). The church artist
Joannes Wolf came to America as a young man in
1852 to join the Benedictine monastic community
of St. Vincent at Latrobe, Pa., as a lay brother. Lay
brothers take the final monastic vows but are not
ordained for priestly duties. As a rule, lay brothers
do tasks that require some manual skill. Wolf received the religious name of Brother Cosmas.
Boniface Wimmer, the abbot of St. Vincent,
soon discovered Brother Cosmas’s artistic talents
and sent him in 1857 to the Munich Royal Academy
of Art, where he studied for five years with the wellknown German sculptor Johann Petz. Shortly after
his return to the St. Vincent Monastery, Brother
Cosmas took on an important assignment at Covington, Ky., where Wimmer had founded the Covington Altar Stock Building Company. Brother
Cosmas assumed the job of business manager and
chief designer of the company. He took Brother
Claude Hauesler from the St. Vincent Monastery
with him as a laborer.
The Covington Altar Stock Building Company
designed and built altars, pulpits, confessionals,
and baptismal fonts. Brother Cosmas created preliminary drawings of these structures with pen,
ink, and a delicate wash. Fortunately, 52 of his exquisite drawings survive at the St. Vincent Monastery. Besides altars and other interior church decorations, they include designs for buildings such as
rectories and schools and demonstrate the great
talent of this German-born Benedictine artist.
Brother Cosmas’s most successful creations
were wooden altars, which he modeled after German Gothic prototypes. They had pointed arches
with delicate carvings and were fitted with altar
paintings that depicted biblical scenes from the
Old and New Testaments, images of saints, and devotional renditions of the Madonna and the Christ
Child. Most of the altars were tripartite, with a
large central panel and two narrow side panels. The
altars were painted white, and the altar paintings
in most cases were placed on a gold-leaf background. Judging from the drawings by Brother
Cosmas, he designed each altar with the appropriate paintings, to be executed by the artists who
worked for him at the Covington Altar Stock Building Company. Because of the large number of altar
structures the company produced, skilled workers
were hired to do the carpentry and assemblage of
the altars.
Brother Cosmas worked on most of the altars
himself, from the Covington studio except when
he needed to travel to Baltimore; Chicago; Cincinnati; Erie, Pa.; Pittsburgh; or Newark, N.J., to install new altars. The name of Brother Cosmas is not

often mentioned in church chronicles. His talent
and accomplishments seem to have gone unnoticed for the most part by writers of religious histories in North America. There are exceptions, however. The 1863 altar at St. Mary’s Cathedral in
Newark, designed and built at the Covington Altar
Stock Building Company, is described in great detail in the cathedral’s commemorative booklet.
The altars that Brother Cosmas built for several
Northern Kentucky churches are of special interest
to admirers of the talents of the Benedictines. The
altars at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Covington were among the most impressive of Brother
Cosmas’s structures; the main altar rose to a height
of 40 feet. Unfortunately, when St. Joseph Church
was razed in 1970, these altars were lost. After 10
years in Covington, Brother Cosmas moved the
Altar Stock Building Company to St. Vincent in
Latrobe, Pa., where he remained active in designing and building decorative structures for new
mission churches until his death in 1894. He was
buried in Latrobe, Pa.
Cochran, Nathan M., O.S.B. Ora et Labora: The
Saint Vincent Lay Brothers, 1846–1946. Latrobe,
Pa.: St. Vincent Abbey Press, 1988.
Pohlkamp, Diomede, O.F.M. “A Franciscan Artist of
Kentucky, Johann Schmitt, 1825–1898,” Franciscan Studies 7 (June 1947): 148–49.
Springer, Annemarie. Nineteenth Century GermanAmerican Church Artists. Bloomington, Ind.:
Annemarie Springer, 2001, www.ulib.iupui.edu/
kade/springer/index.html (accessed November 23,
2005).

Annemarie Springer

WOLFF, OTTO DANIEL, JR. (b. May 16, 1911,
Newport, Ky.; d. February 28, 1955, Fort Mitchell,
Ky.). The prominent Northern Kentucky architect
Otto Daniel Wolff Jr. was the son of Otto Daniel
Wolff Sr., a well-known Campbell Co. Circuit
Court judge, and the former Christine Roth. Otto
Jr. was raised in Newport, where he graduated
from Newport High School. He earned his BA degree from Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, Ga.,
and his architectural degree from the University of
Cincinnati. He married Mary Cobb, and they had
two children, Otto Daniel III and Cynthia. For
several years Otto Wolff Jr. worked for the Federal Housing Administration in Louisville. He returned to Northern Kentucky, where he designed
numerous residential and commercial buildings.
Some of those were the Summit Hills Golf and
Country Club, the Fort Mitchell branch of the
First National Bank of Covington (see First National Bank and Trust Company of Covington), and the Kentucky state office building at
Fourth and Garrard Sts. in Covington. He was a
member of the Trinity Episcopal Church, where
he served as a vestryman. In February 1955 he underwent an operation that revealed that he had
pancreatic cancer. He died three weeks later at his
home in Fort Mitchell. Funeral ser vices were held
at the Trinity Episcopal Church, and burial was in
the Highland Cemetery, Fort Mitchell. His son
Otto Daniel Wolff III became a well-known Covington attorney.

WOLFF, OTTO DANIEL, SR. (b. May 4, 1868,
Newport, Ky.; d. August 21, 1937, Newport, Ky.).
Otto D. Wolff Sr., a lawyer, a judge, and a banker,
was the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Limberg
Wolff. Born and raised in Newport, he attended
primary school there and graduated from Newport High School. He earned a law degree from
the Cincinnati Law College (now the University of
Cincinnati) and was admitted to the Kentucky bar.
Wolff married Christine Roth and they had two
children, architect Otto Daniel Wolff Jr. and
novelist Ruth Wolff. Otto Wolff Sr. was an associate of Judge Edward J. Boltz, and they maintained
offices on the sixth floor of the Finance Building, at
Fourth and York Sts. in Newport. Wolff was appointed master commissioner of the Campbell Co.
Circuit Court in 1898 and served in that post for
six years. At various times, he also held the positions of Newport city solicitor and city councilman. In 1910 he and Phillip Veitz started the Citizens Bank and Trust Company in Newport. Wolff
served as president of the bank until it was merged
with the Central Savings Bank and Trust Co. In
the new consolidated bank, he was made a vice
president. In 1915 he was elected Campbell Co.
Circuit Court judge, a position he held until 1921.
Wolff was a civic-minded person, deeply concerned about the problems of the less fortunate. He
served as secretary of the Campbell Co. Protestant Orphans Home and was instrumental in
starting the penny-a-meal program, to help feed
people who were poor and unemployed. In 1921
Wolff took a bold first step for women’s rights by
permitting women to serve on juries. For many
years he was a member of the St. John’s Evangelical Church (now St. John’s United Church of
Christ), where he taught classes in religion and
held various leadership positions. He remained active in business and charitable work until he succumbed to a heart attack at age 69 in 1937. His body
was laid out in the family home at 624 E. Third St.
and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in
Southgate.
“Bar Pays Tribute to Judge Wolff,” KP, August 23,
1937, 1.
“Heart Attack Ends Life of Former Judge,” KP, August 21, 1937, 1.
Kentucky Death Certificate No. 20338, for the year
1937.
Reis, Jim. “Otto Wolff Blazed Trail for Women,” KP,
June 24, 1996, 4K.

WOLFF, RUTH (b. March 31, 1909, Newport,
Ky.; d. June 13, 1972, Fort Thomas, Ky.). Novelist
Ruth Wolff was one of two children born to Circuit
Court judge Otto Daniel Wolff Sr. and his wife

970 WOMEN
Christine Roth Wolff. Ruth’s brother, Otto Daniel Wolff Jr., became a prominent Northern Kentucky architect. During her formative years, Ruth
and her family lived at 624 E. Third St. in Newport;
later they moved to 105 Carolina Ave. in Fort
Thomas. Ruth graduated from Newport High
School in 1927 and attended Sullins College, in
Bristol, Tenn. She graduated from Western College
for Women (now part of Miami University), at Oxford, Ohio. Ruth did postgraduate work at the University of Cincinnati. Her first job was as a public
school teacher for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
She later worked for Pacific Mutual Life Insurance
Company and United Cork Company of Covington and was a church secretary for Rev. Harold
Barkau at St. John United Church of Christ in
Newport. In addition she did volunteer work for
Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati.
In the early 1960s, she gave up outside employment to concentrate on her writing career. Wolff
wrote four books, I, Keturah (1963), A Crack in
the Sidewalk (1965), A Trace of Footprints (1968),
and A Space Between (1970). She said that she was
intrigued by the name Keturah, which she had seen
on a gravestone in a local cemetery. That marker
could have been for Keturah Moss Leitch Taylor
(the wife of David Leitch and later of James Taylor Jr.), who was buried in Evergreen Cemetery
in Southgate. Ruth’s father, Otto Daniel Wolff Sr.,
was also interred there. The setting for Wolff ’s second book, A Crack in the Sidewalk, was her hometown of Newport, although in the novel she called
the city Brockton. She indicated that the unusual
title came from the fact that almost everything
around her seemed to be covered with concrete, so
that the only place where plants grew was in the
cracks of the sidewalk. Ruth’s books deal with the
experiences of Appalachians in their attempt to
adapt to the urban lifestyle; Newport was a frequent
destination for Appalachians. In addition to her
four books, Ruth wrote articles for Ladies Home
Journal, Redbook, and other similar publications.
In later life, she married J. Robert Wiseman, and
the couple lived in Batavia, Ohio. Ruth Wolff Wiseman died of cancer at age 63, at St. Luke Hospital in
Fort Thomas. She was buried in the Batavia Cemetery in Batavia, Ohio.
“Deaths, Mrs. Ruth Wolff Wiseman,” KP, June 15,
1972, 4.
“Mrs. Ruth Wolff Wiseman,” KE, June 15, 1972, 24.
“Parted Sidewalk, Site for City Flower Border,” KP,
December 8, 1965, 18K.
Wolff, Otto Dan, Jr. Telephone interview by Jack
Wessling. October 2005.

Jack Wessling

WOMEN. Women of Northern Kentucky have
made significant and varied contributions to all aspects of the region’s development. Most notably,
many were activists, community leaders, and women’s rights champions. Anna Shaler Berry became
a dedicated women’s rights activist and a close friend
of Mary Barlow Trimble and Susan B. Anthony.
The three women campaigned tirelessly for the legal
rights of women, especially the right to vote in the
40 years before the 19th Amendment was passed.

Trimble was an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage during the last 20 years of the 19th century.
She was involved in numerous social issues, including women’s property rights and the right to vote,
and was one of the founders of the Covington Equal
Rights Club. Her daughter was the internationally
known suffragist author Kate Woolsey, who wrote
Republics versus Women (1903).
Josephine W. Henry was a writer, teacher,
and women’s rights activist. She joined the Kentucky Equal Rights Association but was expelled
from the organization owing to her extreme views
regarding religion and marriage. Subsequently, the
National American Woman Suff rage Association
gave her its Pioneer Distinguished Ser vice award
in 1920. She died in 1928.
In 1923 Jesse Firth was the first woman to run
for public office in Kenton Co. A leader in the women’s suff rage and temperance movements, she also
served as an officer of the Kentucky Equal Rights
Association and later with the League of Women
Voters.
Alice Lloyd, a teacher most of her life, was also
a member of the Women’s Temperance Union and
the Kentucky Equal Rights Association. Lloyd died
in 1951. She is not to be confused with the Alice
Lloyd who founded an Eastern Kentucky College.
Mattie Bruce Reynolds had a keen interest in
charities and social affairs, but her strongest affiliation was with women’s suff rage. She hosted national
suff ragist organizers at her home in Covington and
marched with four other Kenton Co. women in a
suff ragist parade in Washington, D.C., in 1913. Ida
Mitchell Roff taught elocution in Covington in
the 1880s and later wrote articles on astronomy
and other subjects for the Cincinnati Enquirer.
She also organized and arranged meetings for the
Kentucky Equal Rights Association. She died in
1939 in Mason Co., having spent all but the last two
years of her life in the Cincinnati area. Virginia
Adeline “Jennie” Rugg was one of Northern
Kentucky’s leading suff ragettes, pleading the case
of the franchise for women. She lived in Newport
most of her life and died in 1923 at Ashland.
In the area of social work, Henrietta Esther
Scott Cleveland moved to Covington and became involved in a ladies’ society that dedicated
itself to works of charity among the poor. In 1861
she was a founder of the St. Elizabeth Hospital (see
St. Elizabeth Medical Center). Cleveland died
in 1907. Kate E. Perry Mosher was a Southern
sympathizer during the Civil War. After the war,
she assisted the homeless victims of war in Northern Kentucky. She was also a clubwoman and an
artist. Mary Moser became one of the founders of
the Catholic Social Ser vices in Northern Kentucky
and arranged for more than 300 children to be
placed in adoptive homes during her long career as
one of the region’s first social workers. Moser died
in 1987. Helen McNeeve Theissen, who was active in Catholic charitable causes for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, brought Mother Teresa to Covington. Theissen died in 2005.
In the area of civil rights, Alice Thornton
Shimfessel served as president of the community
center that became known as the L. B. Fouse Civic

League. Many civil rights activities were launched
out of the L. B. Fouse Civic League, including
Congress of Racial Equality freedom riders
and NAACP meetings. Amo Lucille Powell Peters organized local marches and peaceful demonstrations to end segregation and unfair conditions
for African Americans. She became chairperson of
the Maysville–Mason Co. Human Rights Commission and helped plan the 1964 march on Frankfort in support of the upcoming Public Accommodations Act. Her personal visits with the owners of
local businesses and civic leaders led many to support her efforts to hasten integration. Pamela E.
Mullins organized a student demonstration at
Covington’s Holmes High School to protest the
school’s inability to hire an adequate number of
African American teachers and a history curriculum that disregarded the experience of black
Americans. In 1988 she became the first African
American woman elected to the Covington Board
of Education. She lives in Covington today.
In politics, Rebekah Hechinger Hord became the first woman to serve on the Maysville city
commission and, after her election as Maysville
mayor in 1951, was the first woman ever to hold the
position of mayor of a city in Kentucky. She participated in many civic and professional organizations.
Her daughter Harriett Cartmell also became
Maysville’s mayor, in 1986. Dixie Lee, in 1966, was
the first woman in Kentucky to run for Congress in
the Democratic primary. She also ran for the U.S.
Senate and made her final bid for office in a run for
the Kentucky Senate in 1969. Lee continued her interest in politics by working for the Democratic
Party for many years. She died in 2001. Hanna
Baird, who moved to Florence, Ky., in 1964 with
her family, became involved in Democratic politics
and in women’s and children’s issues. She also
served as a board member for the American Red
Cross, the Community Chest, Northern Kentucky University, and several other institutions.
Nancy Diuguid of Carroll Co. broke new
ground with gay and feminist themes in her theater productions on the London (England) stage in
the 1980s and 1990s. She also launched arts projects, working with prisoners, traumatized children, and victims of illness, rape, and abuse.
Many Northern Kentucky women made their
impact in the entertainment and acting arenas, including Dorothy Abbott, Betty Clooney, Rosemary Clooney, Blanche Coldiron, Frances Denny
Drake (see Mrs. Drake), Lyda Florence Lewis,
Una Merkel, Erica Newman, Mary Wilton
“Minnie” Roebuck, and Patricia A. “Pat” Scott.
Notable Northern Kentucky women in business and the professions include Vera Angel;
Clare Elsie Beatty; Virginia Bennett; Betty
Blake; Dr. Tracey Butler Ross; Judy Clabes;
Martha Purdon Comer; Elizabeth B. Delaney; Cora Dow, owner of Dow Drugs; Mary B.
Greene; Dr. Lucy Ann Dupuy Montz; Roxanne
Qualls; Mary Cabell Richardson; Dr. Sarah
M. Siewers; Dr. Louise Southgate; Patricia M.
Summe; Jane Summers; and Mary Wood.
Northern Kentucky has produced numerous
outstanding educators, among them Elizabeth B.

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

Cook Fouse, Ninona Miller, Rosella French
Porterfield, Jessie O. Yancey, and Kate Zoller.
Women talented in the fields of literature and
art have also had Northern Kentucky connections:
Harriette Simpson Arnow, Mary Wilson Betts,
Mary L. Mitchell Cady, Elizabeth Pickett Chevalier, Annette Cornell, Julia Stockton Dinsmore, George Elliston, Berniece Hiser, Sue
Hamilton Jewell, Dorothy Ladd, Mary C.
McNamara, Anna Virginia Parker, Barbara
Paul, Frances Rickett, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Dixie Selden, Mary Bruce Sharon, Helen
Truesdell, Caroline Williams, Ruth Wolff,
Eleanor Duncan Wood, and Rena Lusby
Yancey. Lina and Adelia Beard in the early 1880s
founded the nation’s first girl scouting group, which
came to be known as the Camp Fire Girls. Lina and
Adelia wrote several books, the most famous being
The American Girls Handbook. Daniel Carter
Beard was their brother, and artist James Beard
was their father.
Women have been a part of the history of
Northern Kentucky, though neglected for the most
part in the historical record, since the days of Mary
Ingles’s escape from Indian captivity at Big Bone
Lick in the mid-1750s.
Irvin, Helen Deiss. Women in Kentucky. Lexington:
Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1979.
Potter, Eugenia K., ed. Kentucky Women: Two Centuries of Indomitable Spirit and Vision. Louisville, Ky.: Four Colour Imports, 1997.

Karen McDaniel

WOMEN POLICE OFFICERS AND FIREFIGHTERS. The first policewoman in Northern
Kentucky began to serve in the early 20th century.
In 1914 Mrs. Murray Hubbard urged the Covington Women’s Civic Commission to investigate the
hiring of a woman police officer, stating that larger
cities had done so with success. In March 1915 Alice Voorhees was given police authority under the
Covington Department of Public Safety as a humane matron and worked with women and juveniles. Two years later, when a new mayor took office,
she lost her job. Voorhees returned to public ser vice
from 1937 to 1940 as assistant police matron.
Joan Penick made headlines in 1970, when the
Covington Police Department appointed her a police officer in the juvenile division. She rose to the
rank of captain before her retirement in 1996. Also
during that time, Janet Radenheimer was hired;
she retired as a police sergeant. In 1975 Micki
White was the first woman to serve on the Florence
Police Department. Later she had police duties in
Fort Wright and after that was a patrolwoman for
the Kenton Co. police. When she began in Florence in 1975, she was not allowed to ride in a patrol
car with a married officer.
In 1978, Sandy Tretter Schonecker, of Covington, was hired as the first woman Kentucky state
trooper (KSP). In 1980 she joined special investigations as a state police detective; in that role she was
an undercover officer investigating the bombings of
coal tipples in Harlan Co. Posing as the niece of a
mafia kingpin, she bought dynamite and witnessed

bombings. The information she turned up from an
informant led police to the persons responsible for
bombing a Harlan Co. detective’s home. For that
work she was given the KSP medal for meritorious
ser vice. In 1987 Schonecker returned to Dry Ridge
as a detective, working auto theft and child abuse
cases. She retired on November 30, 1993.
Although there can be no doubt that over the
years women took up positions on bucket brigades
and participated in fire watches and firefighting
when a fire occurred in their community, they were
not recognized as firefighters until much more recently. In the 1970s, Michele Westermeyer began by
serving two years as a volunteer firefighter with the
Erlanger Fire Department and then joined the Covington Fire Department (CFD) on June 18, 1979. She
was Covington’s first woman firefighter, the first
woman to drive the fire engine, the first woman lieutenant, the first woman captain, and the first woman
to run a firehouse (Hands Pk.). She retired as captain
after 26 years of ser vice. Soon afterward, the CFD
hired Betty Schwartz, who retired after 20 years as
an emergency medical technician (EMT) driver.
Tara Lytle, Covington’s third woman firefighter, was
hired in 2000.
Newport had a woman fi refighter during the
1970s; Tammy Webster joined the fi re department in Fort Thomas in 1999; captains Joy McVey
and Jill James both served with the Florence Fire
Department. Other Northern Kentucky departments with women fi refighters include the Central Campbell Co. Fire Department and the departments of Dayton, Hebron, Independence,
and Wilder. In 2005 Kentucky had 30 women
serving with 14 fi re departments.
“Micki N. White,” CE, June 7, 2002, 4B.
“Sandy Schonecker,” KP, December 27, 1978, 1K.

Nancy J. Tretter

WOMEN’S CRISIS CENTER. The Northern
Kentucky Rape Crisis Center was started with
20 volunteers in 1975. In March 1979 its name
changed to the Women’s Crisis Center because the
organization was extending its ser vices to battered
women. Some people then, and even today, do not
know what constitutes a “battered woman”; this is
true especially when the victims are young mothers or sexually abused women, or both. Often the
victims do not know it is a crime to verbally, emotionally, or physically mistreat a person. Three individuals who were influential in the development
and funding of women’s crisis centers statewide
and locally were former Kentucky governor Martha Layne Collins (1983–1987), local attorney Suzanne Cassidy, and well-known local businesswoman Marge Schott.
The mission of the Women’s Crisis Center is to
speak for and empower adults and children who
have survived domestic violence, sexual abuse, or
rape. Besides serving as an advocate for victims,
the Women’s Crisis Center provides crisis intervention, counseling, education, referrals to other
kinds of social ser vices agencies, and shelter for
abuse survivors. There are two 24-hour crisis lines
in operation within Northern Kentucky. The cen-

971

ter’s administrative office is at 835 Madison Ave.,
Covington, and other offices are located in Florence, Maysville, Williamstown, and Carrollton. In
2008 ground was broken for a new Regional Services Center in Hebron.
Currently, the Women’s Crisis Center is the
only shelter for battered women and their children
in the eight-county Northern Kentucky Area
Development District (NKADD). The agency
works closely with NKADD to ensure that community ser vices for its clients are coordinated with
the efforts of other local social ser vice agencies.
The center maintains an updated resource manual
so that it can mesh with other community ser vices.
When clients enter the shelter, they receive help in
finding effective ways to facilitate the intervention,
evaluation, and delivery of ser vices; the purpose is
to achieve an immediate resolution to the crisis at
hand. First, the victim’s most urgent needs are assessed. Then the delivery of needed items or services to alleviate the person’s most pressing concerns follows.
For children, there are ser vices offered that
protect them from abuse and court-appointed legal advocates who try to help children to recognize
that abuse is not their fault and is not an acceptable
norm. Also, the center offers an array of nonresidential ser vices that allow abused children to heal.
Children learn that they have the right to say no, to
get away from being abused, and to tell an adult
what has happened when abuse has occurred. The
center has found that the need for intervention
through prevention and education is acute. Its
team education program in the elementary schools
works with an average of 500 disclosures of abuse
of children annually.
A court advocate is available for the victim at
any time in the process of fi ling for an emergency
protection order, and this advocate also accompanies victims to court hearings. Court advocates
explain to victims the nature and implications of
legal procedures and facilitate child care and transportation ser vices during court attendance while
providing advocacy and emotional support. Hospital advocacy is also available from volunteers
who offer rape crisis counseling in cases of domestic violence. Victims are made aware of resources
and information during emergency room visits.
Kentucky Women’s Crisis Center. http://mivictims.
org/kentucky/mission.html (accessed June 7,
2006).
“Rape Crisis Center Gets Name Change,” Colonel
Covington’s Chronicle, March 1979, 9.

Robin Rider Osborne

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE. In Northern Kentucky
as in the nation, the social activists dubbed “suffragettes” were women who generally came from
families with at least some means. Most were educated, having attended schools other women could
not afford; in addition, these woman had the leisure time to become involved in reform works. For
the most part, they seem to have been mainline
Protestants—Episcopalians, Methodists, and Presbyterians. Once slavery was abolished in 1863 with

972 WOOD, ELEANOR DUNCAN
the Emancipation Proclamation, many of America’s female social reformers turned their attention
to the cause of women’s voting rights. “Equal rights
for men and women” was the clarion call of what
soon came to be known as the women’s suff rage
movement.
Nationally, the best-known suff ragette was
Massachusetts-born Susan B. Anthony (1820–
1906), the daughter of a Quaker abolitionist. She
did not live to see the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allowed
women to vote in the national elections of 1920.
Anthony began her reform work in the temperance movement, then moved on to antislavery,
before joining the battle for women’s voting rights.
She visited Northern Kentucky at least twice: in
October 1879, she spoke at the Odd Fellows Hall in
Newport and stayed at the home of Anna Shaler
Berry, wife of Albert Seaton Berry; and in 1894
Anthony was a guest in the home of Mary Barlow
Trimble of Covington.
In parts of Kentucky, some women (the few unmarried ones who owned taxable property) were
permitted to vote in school-related elections as a
result of a law passed in 1838, the first such schoolsuff rage bill in the nation. Their vote was restricted
to school bonds and school trustee selection. In
1894 school suff rage was extended only to all
women of second-class Kentucky cities—Lexington,
Covington, and Newport—because the state legislature reasoned that only women from those areas
had petitioned for the right. By 1902 even that limited privilege was reversed for racist reasons; it was
feared that black women in Lexington might gain
control of the city’s school system. Thus, it could be
argued that this short-lived taste of suff rage helped
to propel the movement both statewide and in the
nation.
Within Kentucky, the most famous suff ragist
was Laura Clay, daughter of abolitionist Cassius B.
Clay. Within Northern Kentucky, there were several women, many of them friends of Laura Clay,
who pushed, and pushed hard, for the right of
women to vote. Perhaps the most famous Northern
Kentucky women’s rights activist was Kate Trimble Woolsey. She was the daughter of Mary Barlow
Trimble, also a women’s rights activist, and Judge
William Trimble. Both Kate and her mother had
the family wealth, time, and status to promote their
cause. Kate Woolsey took her arguments to the
streets of New York City and London, England, as
well as those of her native Covington, where she
lived in the Trimble mansion at the southeast corner of Robbins St. and Madison Ave., now the site of
a Walgreen Drug Store. In 1903, while living in
London, Woolsey published a book entitled Republics versus Woman, criticizing the inequities
of modern democracies. In it she pleaded for passage of legislation on behalf of women’s rights,
which she claimed were being held back by slowmoving governments.
Kate’s mother, Mary Trimble, was a prominent
figure in national suff ragette circles. A friend of
Anthony, Trimble often was disparaged by Covington society for spending far too much time on her
causes and neglecting her family. Trimble’s rebuttal

was that the hired help was able to care for her family. Other daughters involved in the movement included Grace “Fanny” Trimble Facklers, an international socialite who split her time between London
and New York City, and Helen Trimble Highton, a
delegate to the Kentucky Equal Rights Association
(KERA) meeting in 1913, held in Louisville.
Newport-born Josephine W. Henry, the
niece of John A. Williamson, was part of the
wealthy Williamson family. In 1888 she was lobbying for women’s voting rights in Frankfort before
the legislature, and later she lobbied for women’s
property rights. She was an active member of
KERA and a strong supporter of Laura Clay. At
meetings she often spoke just before Clay on the
program. In 1920 Henry was given a national
award as “a pioneer of the women’s rights movement.” In 1890 she became the first woman to run
for a state office in Kentucky, although at the time
her fellow suff ragettes could not cast their votes for
her.
Another contemporary women’s rights activist, Jennie Rugg, who came from a wealthy family, was also from Newport. In the early 1880s she
demanded the franchise for women. She was a delegate to the 1884 KERA Convention along with
fellow Newport residents Mrs. John A. Williamson and Mrs. Thomas Laurens Jones (Mary
Keturah Taylor), a granddaughter of Gen. James
Taylor.
A medical doctor who was part of this movement was Dr. Louise Southgate. Scion of the famous Southgate family, Southgate practiced in
Covington and was on the staff of that city’s Booth
Memorial Hospital. She helped many young
Covington ladies with issues of women’s health
and was a speaker at the KERA meeting held in
Covington in 1909. Two other Covington suff ragists were Mattie Reynolds, who hosted national
suff ragist organizers at her home at 502 Greenup
St. and in 1913 marched with four other Kenton
Co. women in a suff ragist parade in Washington,
D.C.; and Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer, a Covington
school board member.
From Germantown came Alice Lloyd, who
became Mason Co.’s foremost women’s rights
leader. Another of Laura Clay’s close friends, Lloyd
did not support the proposed U.S. constitutional
amendment as a solution to women’s suff rage. Instead, she believed that each state individually
should offer the vote to women—that it was not a
federal issue.
KERA remained active from 1881 to 1920.
Similar organizations in other states evolved into
what became the League of Women Voters after
the passage of the 19th Amendment. Since Covington and Newport provided many of KERA’s
initial members, several of the organization’s annual meetings were held in Northern Kentucky,
including those of 1897, 1901, and 1905. There was
a Susan B. Anthony Club in Cincinnati, and many
Northern Kentucky women were members, including the club’s president in 1906, medical doctor Sarah Siewers. This club’s legacy lives on
through a Susan B. Anthony Day Dinner held annually in Cincinnati.

WOOD, ELEANOR DUNCAN (b. January 10,
1869, Philadelphia, Pa.; d. June 13, 1936, Maysville,
Ky.). Eleanor Wood’s parents were Dr. Arthur F.
Wood and Eleanor Duncan. Eleanor married Clarence L. Wood. A poet, she was one of 60 contestants who submitted poems in 1922 for the Memorial Building to honor those who died in World
War I, which was being erected on the University
of Kentucky campus in Lexington. Wood’s poem,
“In Memoriam,” was chosen to adorn the side of
the Memorial Building. Wood published a collection of her poetry titled Largesse. Some of her poems appeared in magazines; for example, “The
Conqueror” was published in Lippincott’s Magazine in 1913. Other poems of hers were “The Failure” and “In Nazareth.” Eleanor Wood died of
heart failure in 1936 at age 67 and was buried in
Washington, Ky.
Calvert, Jean, and John Klee. Maysville, Kentucky:
From Past to Present in Pictures. Maysville, Ky.:
Mason Co. Museum, 1983.
Kentucky Death Certificate No. 17253, for the year
1936.
Noe, J. T. C. A Brief Anthology of Kentucky Poetry.
Lexington: Univ. of Kentucky Extension Ser vice,
1936.
Poets’ Corner. www.theotherpages.org/poems.
“Prize Poem to Be Engraved on Memorial Building to
Kentucky’s World War Dead,” KTS, April 18, 1922,
27.
“Prize-Winning Memorial Poem in Kentucky,” KTS,
October 2, 1922, 16.

Thomas S. Ward

WOOD, MARY (b. January 19, 1914, New Orleans, La.; d. May 6, 2002, Fort Wright, Ky.). Witty
television and radio critic Mary Thompson Hawes
Wood, a descendant of Confederate general James
Morrison Hawes, was probably best known as a
commentator and a humorist. She was the daughter of Lee and Ida May Thompson Hawes. In the
1930s her father was the business editor of the
Cincinnati Enquirer. Mary attended Holmes
High School and graduated from the Millersburg (Ky.) Female Institute. She later attended college both in Missouri and at Morehead State College in Kentucky. She married Charles P. “Chip”
Wood in Newport on January 29, 1934. Mary
Wood wrote soap operas for WLW radio, then
worked for the Cincinnati Post for 36 years and
enjoyed a loyal following as she covered the careers of Bob Braun, Nick Clooney, Rosemary
Clooney, Paul Dixon, and Ruth Lyons. She became a good friend of the family of Larry Hagman, star of the successful television series Dallas. Her most popu lar columns probably were her
animal stories, starring her beloved collie, Buster.

WOODLAWN

She lived in Covington and “led the effort to preserve Riverside Dr., fighting efforts to tear down
these old homes and put up a highrise,” according
to Pat Flannery, an attorney friend and neighbor.
In the announcement of her retirement, the Post
said: “Every newspaper office needs a Mary, and
few get them. Like the title of her first book, Just
Lucky I Guess, we here at the Post most certainly
have been.” Mary Wood died in 2002, in a nursing
home, and was buried at Highland Cemetery in
Fort Mitchell.
Billman, Rebecca. “Witty and Fearless, She Was a Local Icon,” CE, May 9, 2002, B9.
Bird, Rick. “She Covered Broadcasting with Style and
Wit,” KP, May 8, 2003, 2K.
Cornell, Si. “Mary Wood to Retire,” CP, December 9,
1978, 2.
Wood, Mary. In One Ear and Gone Tomorrow. Cincinnati: Southgate Press, 1978.
———. Just Lucky I Guess. New York: Doubleday,
1967.

Ann Hicks

WOODEN, JOHN ROBERT (b. October 14,
1910, Centerton, Ind.). John R. Wooden is one of the
premier collegiate basketball coaches of all time, the
one whose teams have won the most NCAA championships (10). He was a three-time All-American
guard at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.,
and the college basketball player of the year for 1932.
Wooden’s first teaching-coaching job was at Dayton
High School, Dayton, Ky. (see Dayton Public
Schools). There he taught English and coached basketball for two seasons, 1932–1934, and his team’s
losing basketball record that first season was the
only one Coach Wooden ever had. He was also the
high school’s football coach in 1932. From Dayton
High School, he went to a coaching position in basketball at Central High School in South Bend, Ind.
After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War
II, he coached basketball at Indiana State University
at Terre Haute. In 1948 he left to become head basketball coach at the University of California at Los
Angeles (UCLA), where he became the legendary
“Wizard of Westwood.” He retired from coaching
after the end of the 1974–1975 basketball season and
today lives in Encino, Calif., not far from the UCLA
campus.
Chapin, Dwight, and Jeff Prugh. The Wizard of
Westwood: Coach John Wooden and His UCLA
Bruins. Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 1973.
Wooden, John R., with Steve Jamison. Wooden: A
Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and
off the Court. Lincolnwood, Ill.: Contemporary
Books, 1997.

Michael R. Sweeney

WOODFILL, SAMUEL, MAJOR (b. January 6,
1883, Jefferson Co., Ind.; d. August 13, 1951, near
Vevay, Ind.). Samuel Woodfill, a distinguished
World War I veteran and Medal of Honor recipient , was the son of Mexican War and Civil War
veteran John H. Woodfill. By age 10, after being
taught by his father and gaining practice by hunting
wild turkeys, the youth had become an expert rifleman. In March 1901 he entered the U.S. Army at

Bryantsburg, Ind. His military career eventually
led him from Louisville, Ky., to the Philippines and
from a posting in Alaska to one in Kentucky at the
Fort Thomas Military Reservation.
Woodfi ll received a Medal of Honor for his actions at Cunel, France, on October 12, 1918; a 1st
lieutenant, he was serving there with the 60th Infantry, 5th Division. His citation relates how he led
his company in battle when they were under German machine-gun fire. Through his skill and bravery, he overcame at least a dozen Germans armed
with machine guns and inspired his men to successfully carry out their objective.
Woodfill married Lorena Blossom Wiltshire, a
native of Covington, on December 26, 1917, in Fort
Thomas. They lived in a home on the military post
until he retired on December 23, 1923, after 22 years
of active military ser vice. Their next home was at the
corner of Alexandria Pk. and Hawthorne Ave., in
the southern part of the city of Fort Thomas. The
couple had no children. The Samuel Woodfill Elementary School, named in Woodfill’s honor, is now
located within two blocks of their former home.
Woodfill, a tall, quiet, retiring man, was recognized
as a military hero throughout the community, but
he never made a show of his accomplishments.
When he was asked to run for a seat in the U.S. Congress, he declined.
While the ceremony of the burial of the nation’s Unknown Soldier was being planned in
1921, some 3,000 names of outstanding soldiers
of the Army Expeditionary Force (AEF) of World
War I were reviewed. One hundred of these
names were presented to Gen. John “Black Jack”
Pershing; he was to select three of them to be
among the U.S. Army’s honor guard for the event.
Upon seeing Woodfi ll’s name, the general proclaimed, “I’ve already selected that man as the
outstanding soldier of the A.E.F.” The other two
were the army’s legendary Sgt. Alvin C. York and
Col. Charles White Whittlesey, the war time commander of the famed Lost Battalion. A whirlwind
of activities preceded and followed the ceremony.
Joined by his wife, Woodfi ll went to Washington,
D.C., where Kentucky senator Richard P. Ernst
of Covington took him to the White House to
meet President Warren G. Harding (1921–1923).
The U.S. Congress adjourned after recognizing
Woodfi ll and held a banquet in his honor. Later
in New York City, Woodfi ll was received and heralded by members of the New York Stock Exchange, which suspended business for three
hours. Woodfi ll also met with Marshall Foch of
France, was honored at a reception in the Hippodrome, and was given a banquet by the army’s 5th
Division.
After his retirement from the military, Woodfi ll attempted to operate an apple and peach farm
between Silver Grove and Flagg Springs in Campbell Co., but the endeavor was not successful. He
then worked as a watchman at the Andrews Steel
Mill in Newport until World War II began. The
famous radio commentator Lowell Thomas wrote
a biography of him, Woodfill of the Regulars.
During World War II, Woodfi ll was recalled to
ser vice and promoted to the rank of major; his du-

973

ties during this period had to do with recruitment
and with promotion of the sale of war bonds. Afterward, he moved back to a farm near Vevay, Ind.,
where he was found dead at age 68 on August 13,
1951. The date of his death was estimated to be August 10. He was buried first at the Jefferson Co.
Cemetery near Madison, Ind., and later, on October 17, 1951, in Arlington National Cemetery in
Arlington, Va., near the tomb of General Pershing.
A marker was placed in the yard of the Jefferson
Co., Ind., courthouse in memory of Woodfi ll. In
Northern Kentucky a large bronze Kentucky State
highway marker recounting Woodfi ll’s exploits
stands in front of the Samuel Woodfi ll School, and
both the school and the Military Museum at the
Fort Thomas Community Center have portraits of
Woodfi ll.
Arlington National Cemetery Website. www
.arlingtoncemetery.net/woodfi l.htm (accessed May
14, 2008).
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Committees Print
15, Ninety-third Congress, First Session. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973.
Medal of Honor Recipients 1865–1973.
Daniels, Betty Maddox. “Fort Thomas Military Reservation Description and History,” NKH 6, no. 2
(Spring–Summer 1999): 6–9.
Thomas, Lowell. Woodfill of the Regulars. Garden
City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1929.
“Woodfi ll Body to Be Taken to Arlington,” KP, August 15, 1955, 1.

Betty Maddox Daniels

WOODLAWN. This sixth-class Campbell Co.
city, incorporated on October 17, 1922, is located
on a hill southeast of Newport. It is surrounded by
the cities of Bellevue, Fort Thomas, and Newport.
Earlier, the area was known as the Old Odd Fellows Grove. Around 1905, James E. McCracken
and attorney Howard Benton subdivided the
grove and formed the Woodlawn Home Company. The engineering firm of Glazier and Morlidge surveyed and laid out the initial five streets;
the sewers and paving of roads came later. Newport’s main water line underneath Waterworks
Rd., Woodlawn’s northern boundary, was tapped
to supply the city with water. In 1912 the city was
being considered as the home of a proposed Roman Catholic parish, which eventually became
St. Francis de Sales in adjacent Cote Brilliante.
In 1915 the Newport Women’s Club opened its
East End Park adjacent to Woodlawn along Waterworks Rd., next to the old Delicious Dairy. Although the park was not in Woodlawn, it quickly
became the playground for Woodlawn children.
For many years, the park was known as Maple
Grove and was owned by Ed Bartlett, who operated a saloon at the site after Prohibition. Two
sons of Bartlett were Thomas “Red” Bartlett, longtime Campbell Co. Boys Club and recreation director; and Lou Bartlett, the former Woodlawn
fire chief. Maple Grove had tennis and horseshoe
courts; a baseball field, which was home to the
Woodlawn Volunteer Fire Department’s summer
baseball league; and, in the woods behind center
field, a cave where local children played. In about

974 WOODS, GRANVILLE T.
1917 the men of Woodlawn formed the Woodlawn Welfare Association for the purpose of roadbuilding and other community improvements.
Charles Pirman was its first president. During the
1920s, both Newport and Bellevue rejected
Woodlawn’s requests to be annexed. Wilson Rd.
was constructed in 1926–1927, making access to
Bellevue and the Fort Thomas streetcar line (see
Streetcars) easier. The center of the community
since about 1950 has been the Woodlawn Volunteer Fire Department firehouse. Other centers of
community life included the gasoline station at
the northwest corner of Waterworks and Wilson
Rds., which for many years was Bernie Brinkman’s
Texaco Station, and the Woodlawn Inn at Waterworks and East Crescent, operated in the early
1960s by former Cincinnati Royals basketball
coach Tom Marshall. There is no school in Woodlawn; public education is supplied by the Campbell Co. Public Schools. Woodlawn’s predominantly Catholic population sends students to St.
Francis de Sales in Cote Brilliante and to Newport Central Catholic High School. In the
early 1960s, Carl Huber built the Woodlawn Terrace subdivision, adding 21 new homes to the city.
In the early 1980s, the construction of I-471 (see
Expressways) took many homes on the city’s west
side. The interstate also isolated Woodlawn from
the east side of Newport and severed most of its previous connections with the Cote Brilliante neighborhood. Over the years there have been a few businesses in Woodlawn: Mary Wallace’s fruitcake and
candy company; Bartlett’s Auto Body; and a number of builders, including Joe Becker, Barney Fehler,
Adam Feinauer, Greg Ferring, and Carl Huber. Today the fire department continues, but the gas station and the Woodlawn Inn are gone. Newport
provides police ser vice. In 2000 the U.S. Census
Bureau reported that Woodlawn had a population
of 268.
Kentucky Land Office. “Kentucky Cities Database.”
http://apps.sos.ky.gov/land/cities/ (accessed March
29, 2005).
U.S. Census Bureau. “American Fact Finder. Data Set.
Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent
Data. Custom Table.” www.census.gov (accessed
March 29, 2005).

Jerome L. Kendall

WOODS, GRANVILLE T. (b. April 23, 1846,
Columbus, Ohio; d. January 30, 1910, New York
City). Granville Woods, known as “the black
Thomas Edison,” was a pioneer African American
inventor and businessman. After mastering the
trades of a machinist and a blacksmith, and after
working as a railroad fireman and engineer, Woods
completed a series of college courses in electrical
and mechanical engineering between 1876 and
1878. In 1880 he came to Cincinnati and founded
the Woods Electric Company. In 1888 he moved to
Covington and resided on Lynn St. In late 1888,
while operating the Woods Electric Company in
Cincinnati, he started a similar enterprise in Newport. He incorporated his manufacturing enterprise on January 21, 1889, as the G. T. Woods Manufacturing Company. The company manufactured

electrical and mechanical devices such as switches,
telegraph systems, and appliances. A short time
later, Woods moved to New York City, where he
sold a number of his patents to Thomas A. Edison
and his General Electric Company, the American
Bell Telephone Company, and the Westinghouse
Air Brake Company. Woods obtained some 60
patents during his life. He never married. Woods
died in 1910 at Harlem Hospital after suffering a
stroke and was buried at St. Michael’s Cemetery,
Astoria, in Queens Co., N.Y.
KSJ, January 3, 1889, 4.
Low, W. Augustus, ed. Encyclopedia of Black America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Theodore H. H. Harris

WOODYARD, WILLIAM (b. 1774, Virginia; d.
1858, Williamstown, Ky.). William Woodyard, an
educated early settler of Grant. Co., arrived in 1808
and became a prosperous landowner. In 1820, with
the formation of Grant Co. and its courts, he was
appointed one of the first justices. Woodyard participated in granting tavern licenses, setting boundaries for precincts, and naming constables. In 1826
he became county sheriff and also served as tax collector, election judge, estate appraiser, and administrator. He and his wife Rebecca, a relative of Henry
Clay, raised 10 children on a farm one mile north of
the courthouse in Williamstown, on the west side
of the Dry Ridge Trace (U.S. 25, Dixie Highway).
Woodyard was buried near the Williamstown Particular Baptist Church.
Barnes, Betty M. “Woodyard Family,” Footsteps of
the Past, December 25, 1997, 19.
Conrad, John B., ed. History of Grant County, Kentucky. Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical
Society, 1992.
Pease, Janet K., comp. Kentucky County Court Records, Grant, Harrison, Pendleton. Williamstown,
Ky.: Grant Co. Historical Society, 1985.

WOOLEN MILLS. The woolen industry was an
important business in Northern Kentucky during
the 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century it was nearly gone, however, and today it has
disappeared. Woolen mills were complex factories
equipped with extensive equipment for processing
raw wool into finished products. A glimpse of a
woolen mill in Northern Kentucky appeared in an
article in the June 29, 1867, Maysville Republican,
describing how the Murphysville Manufacturing
Company in Mason Co. operated. The article explained that after the wool was received at the factory, it was sorted into different grades on the basis
of color and quality and then cleaned by machinery in a scouring room, dyed, rinsed, and dried.
The wool still needed further cleaning at this stage,
to remove dust, dirt, and other substances. In subsequent steps, it was oiled, weighed, and wound
into rope, which was at first coarse and became
smaller and stronger as processing continued. A
machine called a condenser converted the rope
into yarn, which could then be woven into cloth.
After the cloth underwent several additional procedures, among them shrinking, having its nap

raised and sheared, stretching, and pressing, it was
ready for sale.
Little information is available concerning the
woolen mills of Boone and Bracken counties. In
his History of Kentucky, Richard Collins reported
one wool factory at Burlington in Boone Co. and
one wool-carding factory in Bracken Co. Will E.
Walker was listed as a wool carder in the 1850 census for Bracken Co., but it is not known whether
Walker was an employee of a factory or self employed. J. A. Lee ran a woolen mill or carding mill
at Brooksville during 1876–1877.
The woolen industry was more established at
Newport in Campbell Co., where Benjamin Clifford Jr., Darius B. Holbrook, S. R. M. Holbrook,
William M. Walker, James Taylor Jr., James Taylor Sr., Isaiah Thomas, John W. Tibbatts, and
William M. Walker incorporated the Newport
Manufacturing Company on November 26, 1831.
By 1836 this company’s extensive operations included a cotton factory, a woolen factory, a hemp
mill, and other endeavors that employed 329 individuals. A story in the January 9, 1836, local Daily
Evening Post reported that the company had “fi ft y
power looms for the manufacture of Kentucky
jeans, linseys, and cotton plains . . . and the necessary auxiliary machinery for the manufacture of
cotton bagging, by steam power.” Between 1892
and 1908, two other woolen mills were mentioned
in Newport. The June 10, 1892, Kentucky Post indicated that the Forinshell Woolen Mills of Detroit, Mich., would consider a move to Newport if
the city offered some inducements. The Ohio Valley Woolen Mills Company was located at the
southwest corner of First St. and Park Ave. in
Newport.
Historian Collins reported one wool-carding
factory in Carroll Co. Three woolen mills in Carrollton were John Howe & Sons (1876–1880), John
& W. F. Howe & Company (1881–1884), and Carrollton Woolen Mills (1887–1896).
Grant Co. had woolen mill operators in the
community of New Eagle Mills, including G. W.
Saylers (1876–1882), John A. Collins (1883–1884),
and James F. Saylers (1883–1884). Two other
woolen mills were in Williamstown: D. Cunningham & Company (1865–1866) and Daniel L. Cunningham (1883–1884).
In Kenton Co., four minor woolen mills operated in Covington: Glaser & Brother at the southeast corner of Scott and Front Sts. (1866), the Kentucky Woolen Mills at 738–740 Madison Ave.
(1868), F. Gray on the northeast corner of Eighth
St. and Madison Ave. (1869), and A & G. H. Montgomery at 258 Pike St. (1895). The Covington
Woolen Mills (1876–1895), at 254 Pike St. during
1897–1902, appears to have been the primary
woolen mill in Covington. It was owned by John
Herold and his brother. The August 27, 1892, Kentucky Post indicated that Herold’s Covington
Woolen Mills had failed. However, subsequent city
directories suggest that the mill continued until
1902. The varying company name and address
were listed as J. & G. Herold, on the north side of
Lexington Pk. between Main and Riddle Sts.
(1861–1866); on the north side of Pike St, opposite

WORLD WAR I

Kip St. (1866); at 252 Pike St. (1868); at 256–258
Pike St. (1869–1871, 1878); at 256 Pike St. (1872–
1888); and John Herold & Sons at 256 Pike St. (1890
and 1896). John Herold was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1819 and migrated to the United States
in 1838. Initially, he worked five or six years in a
woolen mill owned by a man named Geizendurf
and subsequently began his own business.
In Mason Co., O. Hanna & Company operated a woolen mill in the community of Dover
during 1883–1884. The Maysville Woolen Manufacturing Company was incorporated on January
16, 1866, by William W. Baldwin, David Clark,
Robert A. Cochran, George L. Forman, Peter
Lashbrooke, Elijah Loyd, Henry Smoot, and William E. Smoot. Murphysville, a small Mason Co.
community about nine miles south of Maysville
on the North Fork of the Licking River, had the
Murphysville Manufacturing Company, which
was incorporated on March 2, 1867. The dye house
at the mill was under the supervision of Timothy
D. Lutcliffe of Roxburg, Mass., who had previously
worked at the Bay State mills and carpet factory in
that state. The superintendent of the practical department was working under George S. Baker, formerly with Tilton and Baker, a cloth and woolengoods manufacturer of Sanborndon Bridge, N.H.
With equipment brought in from Massachusetts
and Connecticut and experienced men with backgrounds in the woolen industry, the Murphysville
Manufacturing Company was an impressive operation. It appears that successors to the Murphysville Manufacturing Company were Evans &
Wright in 1876–1977 and Wright & Wood, who
were listed in editions of the Kentucky State Gazetteer and Business Directory between 1879 and
1888.
The community of Washington in Mason Co.
had an early wool factory owned by Enos Woodward. The December 19, 1827, Maysville Eagle
carried an ad placed by Woodward seeking one
or two weavers as employees for this factory. The
following month, on January 23, 1828, the newspaper carried a long ad in which Woodward informed the public that he had purchased the wool
factory formerly occupied by William Richey in
Washington.
Woolen mills also operated in Owen and Pendleton counties. Miner & Parker ran a woolen mill at
New Liberty in Owen Co. during 1865–1866. Collins reported in his history one wool factory in
Pendleton Co. Later, two woolen mills existed in
Falmouth: Joshua Woodhead’s woolen mill near
Zoder (1874–1884) and the Falmouth Woolen Mills
(1887–1906). According to the local Lake atlas for
Bracken and Pendleton counties, Woodhead was a
woolen manufacturer from England who settled in
Pendleton Co. in 1866. Two wool carders listed in
the Pendleton census for 1850 included James P.
Hopper and William J. Wheeler. To this day, the
wool industry in Falmouth is celebrated with an
annual wool festival.
Acts of Kentucky. Frankfort, Ky., 1832, 1866, 1867.
An Atlas of Bracken and Pendleton Counties, Kentucky. Philadelphia: D. J. Lake, 1884.

ington at a convention of the Kentucky Equal
Rights Association in Louisville. In 1915 the Kentucky Post reported that Kate Trimble Woolsey,
“one of the leading writers in the suff rage cause”
(see Women’s Suff rage), was spending most of
her time in New York City, Europe, and Covington, Ky. The story of Kate Woolsey’s last years and
death has yet to be uncovered.
Bronner, Milton. “Kentuckians Who Have Made
Good in New York— Commonwealth Well Represented,” KP, February 3, 1915, 1.
“Colonial Daughters Hold a Meeting,” KP, December
2, 1907, 3.
“Four Women Are Delegates,” KTS, November 11,
1913, 14.
“Ida S. Blick Letter,” KP, October 16, 1905, 4.
“Judge Wm. W. Trimble Died,” KSJ, September 2,
1886, 4.
“A Sharp Protest,” Lexington Leader, April 12, 1903, 7.

John Boh

WORLD WAR I. Before the United States enWOOLSEY, KATE TRIMBLE (b. ca. 1858, Cynthiana, Ky.; date and place of death unknown). Kate
Trimble, an author and a suffragette, was the daughter of Judge William W. Trimble and Mary Barlow Trimble. Kate was exposed to some women’s-rights influences from her birth family: In 1874,
her father purchased a mansion at the southeast corner of Madison Ave. and Robbins St. in Covington,
in the name of his wife. In 1894, when the Equal
Rights Society of Covington attended the Ohio
Woman State Suffrage Convention in Cincinnati,
Ohio, Kate’s mother entertained as her houseguests
famous suffragettes Helen Taylor Upton and Susan
B. Anthony.
In 1881 Kate Trimble married Eugene de Roode
of Lexington. She subsequently spent four years as
a widow in London, England. In 1893 she married
Edward J. Woolsey of New York City, who was
newly divorced and quite wealthy. For the couple’s
wedding, Kate’s widowed mother invited many
dignitaries to Covington, including the U.S. secretary of the treasury, John G. Carlisle, and foreign
guests such as the king of Bulgaria, Princess Maria
De Bourbon from the Bourbon royal family, and
the English dowager duchess of Wellington. Kate
Woolsey’s book, a short volume entitled Republics
versus Woman, was published in 1903. There she
argued that the American republic was more oppressive for disenfranchised women than were the
monarchies of Europe. She also claimed in her
book that her great-aunt had urged her great-uncle
Robert Trimble to draft a bill in support of married
women’s property rights and their guardianship
rights. Also in 1903 Woolsey became a member of
the Daughters of the American Revolution. Then
in 1907, the newly organized Society of Colonial
Daughters engaged her as a guest speaker. In her
speech, “Women of the Colonial Period,” she denounced the plight of females working in the
southern textile factories. Women’s status had
fallen below that of male immigrants, ex-slaves,
and the lower classes, she asserted. In November
1913, four prominent local suff ragettes, including
Woolsey’s sister, Helen Highton, represented Cov-

tered the war, a rally of Covington and Kenton Co.
citizens was held at the Covington Public Library auditorium on May 1, 1916, to encourage
political officials to stay out of the war in Europe.
Many of the people in attendance were of German
birth or ancestry. Their pleas were ultimately unsuccessful, and by April 1917, the United States was
at war with the Central Powers.
Northern Kentuckians with German heritage
soon found themselves in a precarious position.
The overwhelming majority of them were loyal
Americans, and many of the families had lived in
the United States for generations. Some of their
non-German fellow citizens, however, viewed
them with distrust. This distrust was fueled by the
creation of the Citizens Patriotic League in 1917 to
rid the region of any pro-German activity (see
Anti- German Hysteria). The league eventually
claimed to have more than 1,000 members. The
Citizens Patriotic League was successful in eliminating many aspects of German culture and language in the region. In summer 1917, the Dayton
Public Schools in Dayton, Ky., stopped offering
courses in the German language. During the next
year, most other Northern Kentucky public school
systems did the same. The Covington Public Library removed its sizable German-language collection, and the circulation of German-language
newspapers was all but eliminated in Northern
Kentucky. Many area businesses changed their
names to remove any reference to Germany. The
German National Bank in Covington was renamed
Liberty National Bank, while the Newport German
Bank became the American National Bank. Covington’s Western German Savings Bank was renamed the Security Savings Bank. A number of
streets were also renamed to get rid of any association with Germany. In Covington, Bremen St. became Pershing Ave., and in Newport, German St.
became Liberty St.
The Citizens Patriotic League did not always
use peaceful means to achieve its goals. On June 5,
1918, members of the league confronted Rev. Anton Goebel, pastor of St. John Catholic Church

976 WORLD WAR II
on Pike St. in Covington, on the porch of the parish rectory. Goebel was a German native who had
come to the United States in 1890. The mob physically intimidated Goebel and several mob members struck him. Goebel was accused of refusing to
allow the American flag to be brought into his
church for a funeral. On June 24, 1918, a large
group of league members confronted a farmer in
rural Kenton Co. and accused him of supporting
the German war aims. The man was tied to a tree
and whipped.
The Citizens Patriotic League was also involved
in one of the region’s highest-profi le court cases. In
1918 a private detective agency was hired by the
league to place an electronic listening device in the
shoe shop of Charles Schoberg in the Latonia
neighborhood of Covington. League members had
been informed that a group of men were gathering
in the shop to discuss the war in terms that were
sympathetic to the Germans. From the evidence
collected, seven men were eventually charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act
of 1918. The case focused on three men, Henry
Feltman, J. Henry Kruse, and Charles Schoberg.
All three were upstanding citizens who were active
in the community. Feltman and Schoberg each had
held public offices, and Feltman was a successful
tobacco merchant. All three, however, were found
guilty. Schoberg was given a sentence of 10 years,
while Kruse received a 5-year term. Feltman was
sentenced to a 7-year prison term and fined $40,000.
On December 10, 1920, the three men were transported to Moundsville Penitentiary in West Virginia. A successful petition drive by their friends
eventually led to their release in June 1921, when
President Warren G. Harding (1921–1923) commuted their sentences.
Religious congregations with traditional German ties also distanced themselves from the German language and culture. Many German Evangelical Reformed congregations eliminated the use
of the German language at all ser vices and changed
their names to reflect a more American perspective. The German Evangelical Reformed Church of
Covington changed its name to Grace Reformed
Church (see Grace United Church of Christ),
and the Immanuel German Reformed Church in
Bromley was rechristened Immanuel Reformed
Church (see Immanuel United Church of
Christ). For several generations, many Catholic
parish schools had used the German language in
instruction. In par ticu lar, the catechism was often
learned in German. This practice came to an end
during the war years in almost all the region’s
Catholic schools.
The center of war activities in Northern Kentucky was Fort Thomas Military Reservation
in Campbell Co., which became a major induction
center for the region. Local residents supported the
soldiers at the fort with periodic entertainments.
The YMCA provided religious ser vices for the
Protestants at the fort, and the Knights of Columbus did the same for Catholics in uniform.
Northern Kentuckians who remained on the
home front supported the war through various activities. Liberty bonds sold very well in the region.

Area churches opened their doors for American
Red Cross activities, and many congregations
purchased Liberty Bonds. Many congregations
posted the names of their members who were in
the ser vice in prominent locations.
As the war drew to an end, area leaders began
focusing their attention on the creation of suitable
memorials. Bishop Ferdinand Brossart of the Diocese of Covington proposed a regional effort that
would endow special wards at St. Elizabeth Hospital (see St. Elizabeth Medical Center) and
Booth Memorial Hospital in Covington as a
suitable memorial to those who lost their lives in
ser vice to their country. This regional approach
did not prove popu lar. Instead, dozens of memorials were erected throughout Northern Kentucky.
In the more rural areas, World War I veteran memorials can be found in many courthouse squares
(see Veterans’ Memorials and Monuments). In
the more urban Campbell and Kenton counties,
memorials were constructed in many of the cities.
Merriman, Scott A. “An Intensive School of Disloyalty: The C. B. Schoberg Case under the Espionage
and Sedition Acts in Kentucky during World War
I.” RKHS 98, no. 1 (Winter 2000): 179–204.
———. “Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times? Defendants, Attorneys, and the Federal Government’s
Policy under the Espionage Acts during World War
I in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals District,”
PhD diss., Univ. of Kentucky, 2003.
Reis, Jim. “Group Hoped to Keep America out of
World War I,” KP, February 14, 1983, 4.
Schmitz, Frederick W. An Open Reply to John Richmond, President Blakely Club, Covington, Kentucky concerning Patriotic Activities. Pamphlet
published in Covington, Ky. July 14, 1921, available
at Kenton Co. Public Library, Covington, Ky.

David E. Schroeder

WORLD WAR II (December 7, 1941–September
2, 1945). Northern Kentucky played a prominent role
during World War II, especially in war production
and military personnel (see also African Americans in World War II). Throughout the late 1930s,
tensions had grown between the United States and
Japan over Japan’s war in China and apparent intentions to expand Japanese territories in the Pacific. At
the same time, Adolph Hitler was rebuilding Germany and strengthening its armed forces. On September 1, 1939, World War II in Europe began: the
German invasion of Poland started a conflict that by
1941 had engulfed Europe and North Africa in a
bloody conflict. During this period the United States
had remained neutral but had aided England, and
eventually Russia, with war matériel through the
Lend-Lease program. Most Americans wanted the
United States to stay out of the war. Nevertheless, because of a recognized need to build up America’s
armed forces, a draft was instituted in 1940; and in
early 1941, all National Guard units were federalized
for possible war service.
The War in the Pacific Theater
For the United States, World War II began on Sunday, December 7, 1941, when aircraft from Japa-

nese aircraft carriers attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in an attempt to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Although the main target of the attack was to be
American aircraft carriers, none were in port, and
the main damage was done to the battleship fleet
moored along Ford Island. U.S. Navy Coxswain
Warren Richardson, of Kenton Co., was aboard
the battleship USS Arizona when it was hit by a
bomb that detonated its powder magazine and
sank it. Richardson was among the 1,177 men
killed when the ship sank. Carroll Co.’s Pfc. Ellis
O’Neal, of the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), was
also among the Northern Kentuckians present
during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He survived the
strafing and bombing attack at Ewa Marine Air
Station near Pearl Harbor.
The United States had become suspicious of
Japanese intensions before the attack on Pearl Harbor but had concluded that the Japanese would
first strike U.S. military forces in the Philippine Islands. Based on this supposition, units including
Covington’s Company D of the 38th Tank Company, which became part of the 192nd Tank Battalion, were sent overseas to build up America’s
defenses in the Philippines. The Japanese attacked
the Philippines on December 8, 1942, but it took
nearly six months of fighting before they gained
complete control of the islands. Capt. Alvin C.
Poweleit, of Campbell Co., was in charge of the
192nd Tank Battalion’s medical detachment during the defense of the islands, and Kenton Co.’s
Rev. Henry Stober, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, served as an army chaplain with the 12th Engineer Company. Both men
survived the Bataan Death March, but only Poweleit returned home. Stober died while a prisoner
of war in 1944. In early 1942, it was decided that it
was necessary to attack Japan in some way, both to
show the Japanese they could be struck militarily
and to bolster U.S. moral. Bracken Co.’s Capt.
Thomas Cline was chosen by the Army Air Corps
to test the idea of launching land-based bombers
from an aircraft carrier. His efforts, as well as those
of many others, were behind the Doolittle Raid on
Tokyo in April 1942.
Following the American naval victory at the
Battle of Midway, the United States began a long
series of island-hopping campaigns to cut Japanese
supply lines and drive the Japanese back toward
their mainland, a task that took until 1945. The
Americans started their drive with an attack on
the island of Guadalcanal. Campbell Co.’s Pfc. Edward H. Ahrens was among the marines that went
ashore to capture the island. While fighting with
the 1st Raider Battalion, he was killed in action,
earning a Navy Cross for heroism. At sea, Owen
Co.’s Rear Admiral Willis Augustus Lee Jr.
commanded the battleship division that engaged
and beat the Japanese navy force sent to help capture the island on November 14–15, 1942. As the
United States captured Japanese-held islands, U.S.
forces built airfields, naval facilities, and supply depots to help carry on the fight. On New Caledonia
in 1943, Kenton Co.’s John Herndon, an African
American, served with the Navy Seabees and
helped build the island into a large air and supply

WORLD WAR II

base. Campbell Co.’s Charlie Tharp also served
with the Seabees in the Marshall Islands during
1944.
As the island-hopping campaign came closer to
Japan, the Japanese became more desperate, and
fighting intensified. Bracken Co.’s Cpl. John Capito,
USMC, earned a Silver Star and a Purple Heart for
heroism during the capture of New Britain Island
in January 1944, when he drove a bulldozer under
fire across a creek bed to clear a path for advancing
U.S. tanks and infantry. By late 1944, U.S. forces
had begun operations to recapture the Philippines.
Among the units taking part in the Philippine operation was the 38th Infantry Division, which included men of the 149th Infantry Regiment, Kentucky National Guard. Also among the invasion
force was the 138th Field Artillery regiment of the
Kentucky Guard, which provided artillery support
for the 38th Division. As the island-hopping campaign progressed, Northern Kentuckians served
elsewhere in the Pacific, including Alaska and the
China-Burma-India area. Kenton Co.’s Sgt. Lawrence Keller served in the CBI (China-Burma-India
Theater) as a cryptologist decoding Japanese messages for the 10th Air Force. Also from Kenton Co.
was Leroy Waller, an African American serving
with the engineers in the CBI to help build the
Burma Rd.
Japanese commanders ordered their forces to
fight to the death when they perceived that American forces were approaching Japan. In February
1945, Kenton Co. navy corpsman Noah Switzer
landed on the island of Iwo Jima with the 28th Marines. He witnessed the raising of the flag on Mount
Suribachi and served in combat for 37 days. Starting in March 1945, the final campaign of the war
began as the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific war was launched against the island of Okinawa. Among the ships of the invasion fleet was
the USS Kenton APA-122 (named for Kenton Co.,
Ky.). In April 1945 the Kenton reached Okinawa
and unloaded troops and supplies. On April 6,
1945, during a Kamikaze attack, the Kenton shot
down two Japanese aircraft. After two atomic
bombs were dropped on Japanese cities in early
August 1945, the emperor of Japan announced the
surrender of Japan on August 15. The formal surrender was signed on September 2, 1945.
The War in the European Theater
On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, plunging the
United States completely into the war. President
Franklin Roosevelt (1933–1945) and many of his
aides saw Germany as a greater and more immediate threat than Japan, and troops and equipment
were sent to Europe first. In January 1942 the first
American troops arrived in England. Among them
was Col. Jesse Auton, from Kenton Co., who was
sent by the Army Air Corps to evaluate sites for
potential air bases for the newly formed 8th Air
Force, which was to destroy German industry and
military targets as well as the German air force.
Auton returned to England in early 1943 as commander of the 65th Fighter Wing, the first operational American fighter wing in Europe. The job of

the fighter wing was to defend bomber formations
and to destroy the German air force in the air and
on the ground. Owen Co.’s Maj. Gerald Johnson
of the 56th Fighter Group flew under Auton’s wing
and is credited with being the second American
fighter ace in the European Theater, chalking up 18
aerial victories by the war’s end.
As the first Americans landed in England, war
came to the shore of the United States in the form of
German submarines. They preyed on merchant
ships right off the U.S. East Coast throughout 1942
and early 1943 and also planted antiship mines.
During the antisubmarine campaign, Owen Co.’s
Capt. Evan Yancey (later an admiral) commanded
the destroyer USS Clemson and modified its equipment to gauge better the depth of enemy subs, an
improvement that enhanced the success of antisub
operations. The first major action Americans were
involved with in Europe was the invasion of North
Africa in November 1942. Covington’s 106th
Coastal Artillery battalion (AA) landed on November 8 and fought in the battle of Kasserine Pass. The
unit also participated in the invasion of Sicily in
1943, as did the 103rd Automatic Weapons Battalion, formally the 123rd Cavalry, Kentucky National
Guard, from Covington.
Sicily was used as a jumping-off point for the
invasion of southern Italy. Although most of
southern Italy was occupied by late 1943, the fight
for Italy was fought through April 1945. Kenton
Co.’s Lt. Melvin Walker was an African American
officer in the all-black 92nd Infantry Division. He
was awarded the Silver Star for heroism in January
1945. On June 6, 1944, the Allies launched the invasion of France at Normandy, and Northern Kentuckians fought on land, at sea, and in the skies
there. Boone Co.’s Sgt Robert L. Williams served
with the 506th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division as part of the airborne force that dropped behind enemy lines before the invasion; Kenton Co.’s Sgt. Cassius Mullins
jumped into Normandy with the 508th Infantry
Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. Mullins was later wounded during the invasion of Holland in September 1944. Kenton Co.’s
naval Petty Officer 3rd Class Jack Story served
aboard the USS Corry, a destroyer that was supporting the landings when it struck a mine. On
June 8, 1944, the SS Charles Morgan was unloading troops and supplies off Utah Beach when a
German plane dropped a bomb into its cargo hold.
Kenton Co.’s Edward Brogan survived the attack
and reached shore.
On shore the hedgerow country slowed the
Allied advance, and Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd
Army made a break out and drove across France.
Campbell Co.’s army Pvt. Henry Lowe served in
support of Patton with the 657th Ordnance Company, supplying ammunition for the advancing
army. By late 1944, U.S. forces had engaged the
German army in the Huertgen Forest in a costly
winter battle fought along the border of Germany
and Belgium. On December 9, 1944, Campbell
Co.’s army SSgt. Vernon Napier of the 709th Tank
Battalion was killed in action. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Ser vice Cross

977

for heroism. On December 16, 1944, the Germans
launched their last major offensive of the war in
the Ardennes Forest. In poor weather conditions
that grounded most Allied aircraft, they attacked
on an 80-mile front with complete surprise. Kenton Co.’s Maj. John Hoefker flew photo recon
missions over the Ardennes and was twice shot
down, but he was able to provide valuable information on the advancing Germans. As the Allies
advanced into Germany, Owen Co.’s army Sgt.
James Washington served with the African American 3760th Quartermaster Trucking Company.
By April 1945, the Allies were closing in on the last
remnants of the German Army. On April 24, 1945,
less than a week before the end of hostilities, Kenton Co.’s army Pvt. Paul Horstman was killed in
action while fighting as part of the 9th Army. On
May 8, 1945, the war in Europe ended with Germany’s surrender. Following the surrender, many
American soldiers and airman were liberated
from German prison camps; among them were
Campbell Co.’s Pfc. Clifford Marz of the army engineers, who had been held at Stalag 4B, and
Campbell Co.’s Air Corps SSgt. Lafon Wesley,
who was shot down while serving as a gunner on
B-17s in August 1944. By the war’s end, 589 Northern Kentucky soldiers, sailors, and marines were
listed as either killed or missing. The two counties
with the highest causalities were Kenton (284) and
Campbell (211).
On the home front, Northern Kentuckians experienced the rationing of such materials as gasoline, rubber, sugar, and meat. As both men and
women went off to war and industries geared up for
war production, many women left the home to work
in war plants. Companies involved in war production in the region included Newport Steel and the
Wadsworth Watchcase Company of Dayton,

Alma Wolfzorn Ciafardini working on war
production at Wadsworth in Dayton, Ky.,
during World War II.

978 WORTHVILLE
Ky., both of which began making shell casings and
machine guns, and the Kentucky Shell plant that
was located in Wilder. Northern Kentuckians also
went across the Ohio River to work at the Curtis
Wright aircraft plant, the Crosley Corporation, and
other firms. Like the rest of the nation, Northern
Kentucky held bond drives and collected scrap
metal and grease for the war effort. Civil Defense
workers held blackout and air-raid drills, and each
community had a designated air-raid warden. As
men enlisted or were drafted into the military, new
military camps and bases were built or converted to
particular special military needs across the nation.
In Northern Kentucky, the Fort Thomas Military
Reservation served as an induction center to process soldiers as they joined. Both men and women
from the region served in all branches of the armed
forces. The women were nurses, clerks, pilots, and
carried out many other support roles. Grant Co.’s
Capt. Doris Clark commanded the 151st Women’s
Army Corps Company stateside. Northern Kentuckians served in every theater of operations during the war, and many gave their lives.
Kleber, John E., ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia.
Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1992.
KTS, May 9, 1945, 1.
“Liberated, War Contracts at Shell Plant Cancelled,”
KTS, May 8, 1945, 1.
The National Archives. “World War II Causalities.”
www.archives.gov/research/arc/ww2/ (accessed
May 20, 2007).
Pranger, Arthur B. Traveling through W.W.II: 2
Years, 2 Months, 29 Days. Bloomington, Ind.:
AuthorHouse, 2007.
Smith, Hope. “3 Former Sailors Relive Sinking of US
Ship,” CE, June 1, 1994, 1.
Snow, Robert. “Military Memories, Ph1 Noah Switzer,” Military Historian, April 1995.
Williams, Robert L. Return to Normandy. Cincinnati: Sky Spec, 1997.

Robert B. Snow

WORTHVILLE. Worthville, located where Eagle Creek empties into the Kentucky River, was
originally a tiny hamlet hugging the banks of these
two waterways in Carroll Co. It was known in the
town’s early history as Coonskin, because the traders and merchants there bartered goods and services for skins. It was not until 1869, when the
Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington Railroad was completed through town, that its name
was changed to Worthville, in honor of Gen. William Jenkins Worth of Mexican War fame.
In 1802 an official governmental inspection
station was in operation at the mouth of Eagle
Creek, checking tobacco, hemp, flour, and goods
shipped by flatboat from the interior Bluegrass region and the upper reaches of Kentucky. By 1820
seven steamboats made regular passage to Frankfort, Ky., and by 1836 coal barges were arriving at
the Worthville area from Eastern Kentucky. During the 1850s Worthville witnessed a major growth
spurt. Construction of the railroad brought many
new people to town. In addition to sidings and
loading docks, a popu lar “watering hole,” Mac’s Saloon, was a favorite among the construction crews.

Wild hogs are said to have impeded work laying
the track.
In April 1878 a Mrs. Sheehan began a private
school about one mile above Worthville, and Miss
Georgia Aiken taught nearby at Green Hill. In June
of that year, the first common school trustees were
elected, Asbury Ames, Jasper Lewis, and George
Scott. The first public school for District 32 was
completed at Worthville in time for the 1878 fall
semester. The earliest church building at Worthville was Dean’s Chapel, a Methodist affi liate, constructed on 1.5 acres along the Kentucky River on
land donated by Samuel and Mary Goodwin to W.
T. Dean, W. B. Winslow, and James McDaniel,
trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church–
South. Later that building was removed and the
Dean’s Memorial Methodist Church was built on
the land and dedicated in 1910. The Worthville
Baptist Church was built as a log structure in 1880,
but the facility was soon outgrown, and the congregation built another building just five years
later. The old log church building was used afterward as Worthville’s public schoolhouse. The community’s second school was a two-story frame
structure, and in 1912 a large brick school was constructed to house both the grade school and the
high school. The Worthville High School, a
four-year school, operated until 1939. The Worthville Consolidated School was one of the last of the
county schools in Kentucky to close, serving the
area until 1963. In 1890 the Old Mill Creek Christian Church was hauled from East Mill Creek to
Worthville and set upon new foundations. The old
church dated back to 1856, and its homemade
benches also came to Worthville. The church was
lost in a 1941 fire, and a new Christian Church
building was constructed under the leadership of
Pastor W. C. McCullum, one year later.
Two early African American churches, one
Methodist and the other Baptist, and a school for
African American students were up on the hill at
Worthville. Miss Mary Henderson taught at that
school, and her sister, Nannie Henderson, taught at
a rural African American school in Owen Co., Ky.
After the Carrollton and Worthville Railroad
(C&W) was completed in 1905, the Worthville-area
African American students were sent to Dunbar
School in Carrollton, and later to the nearby Ghent
Elementary School, the consolidated school for
colored children in Carroll Co. Two residents of
Worthville, Bessie Whitaker and her husband,
Dudley Whitaker, taught at Dunbar and at the
Ghent Colored School for many years during the
1920–1940 period. Area African American children of high school age were sent to boarding
school at Lincoln Institute in Shelby Co., Ky.
By 1900 bridges had been built over Eagle
Creek at Sanders, Eagle Station, and Worthville.
All three of these were covered bridges, but in recent years they were replaced by concrete spans.
Completion of the C&W Railroad in 1905 provided another major business for Worthville. Coal
was shipped down the Kentucky River from coal
mines in Kentucky and off-loaded at Worthville,
then sent by the C&W to Carrollton and Ghent as
fuel for the houses and businesses along the line. In

its heyday, Worthville was a bustling railroad town
centered on its rail depot. Passenger and freight
ser vice was handled every day. It is said that during
the 1920s and 1930s, people would come to Worthville just to see the trains. The railroad water towers
provided water to area farmers during the drought
of 1929. Worthville boasted a literary society, plays,
operettas, a local band, tent meetings, and every
summer a showboat on the Kentucky River. For
several years, a band of Gypsies with colorful
horse-drawn wagons would come through town
telling fortunes, selling handmade goods, and providing music and dancing. During the Ohio River
flood of 1937, the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad positioned a train at Worthville for people stranded by the high waters. Among the businesses at Worthville were Pollard’s Confectionery,
Schenck Bros. Hardware and Grocery, Gardner’s
Stockyard and Produce House, Worsham’s
Western Union, Bauer’s Grocery, Goodwin’s Hotel, Gentry’s Grocery, Kemper’s Restaurant and
Boarding house, a telephone exchange, bakers,
two barbershops, a tomato factory, a lumberyard,
a shoe factory, two garages, a bank, and three doctors’ offices.
Shock and dismay permeated Worthville on
January 13, 1938, when J. P. Schenck, president of
the Worthville Deposit Bank, announced that the
bank was closed and the affairs turned over to the
State Banking and Securities Administration.
Originally founded in 1898, the Worthville Bank
was capitalized at $15,000 with nearly $100,000 in
deposits. Schenck stated that depositors were protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $5,000 per account. Frozen loans and
low earnings from effects of the Great Depression forced the closure. A. B. Suter was the cashier.
The Ghent Bank in Carroll Co. had already gone
into receivership at the time of the Worthville
Bank collapse. By the end of the year, the depositors received 25 percent of their deposit value as an
initial payment from the bank’s assets.
In 1941 a major fire destroyed an entire block
of businesses, the Christian Church, and two water
towers. After World War II, the local railroad
business declined gradually. Modern Worthville is
but a shadow of its former commercial prowess.
The long-haul trucks on I-71 (see Expressways)
bypass Worthville; commercial traffic on the Kentucky River has been gone for more than 50 years;
and even the once powerful L&N, now the CSX,
carries freight right past the town. Coal goes by
way of Ohio River barges direct to customer landings. The railroad connection of the old C&W, now
also part of CSX, ser vices some of the steel and
chemical plants between Carrollton and Ghent.
Bogardus, Carl R., Sr. The Story of Gallatin County.
Ed. James C. Claypool. Cincinnati: John S. Swift,
2003.
Carroll Co. Deed Book 10, p. 585, Carrollton, Ky.
Carrollton News-Democrat, July 1878; January 13,
1938.
Gentry, Mary Ann. A History of Carroll County.
Madison, Ind.: Coleman, 1984.
Parker, Anna V. “A Short History of Carroll County,”
1958, Carroll Co. Public Library, Carrollton, Ky.

WORTHVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH. In summer 1882 the Concord Association sent its missionary preacher, Thomas A. Spicer, to Worthville in
Carroll Co. to conduct a revival, which resulted in
conversions and transference of church membership by letter of 35 to 40 members. Spicer organized
a Sunday School and came each month to preach at
ser vices held in the Worthville Schoolhouse. In July
31, 1883, when the Baptist membership in Worthville and the vicinity called for delegates, ministers,
and laymen from nine adjacent churches to assist in
organizing the Worthville Baptist Church. On this
occasion, with eight ministers and an audience of
600 people present, the Worthville church members elected Spicer as their pastor. Land for a church
building in Worthville was donated by Samuel Malin, and work on the building began in 1884. The
completed church was dedicated in June 1889. In
1900 the Worthville Baptist Church and seven
other churches withdrew from the Concord Association to form the White’s Run Baptist Association. These eight churches were joined by three
churches from the Sulphur Fork Association at an
organizational meeting at the Carrollton Baptist
Church.
The Worthville church parsonage was built in
1927 at the cost of $800. In 1930 the church had 228
members. The Worthville church held part-time
ser vices until 1943, when, under the ministry of
W. G. Webster, a full-time schedule of ser vices was
begun. Over the years, improvements to the 1889
church building have included a basement dug in
the 1940s to make two Sunday School rooms; more
new Sunday School rooms in the back of the sanctuary, built in the 1950s; new rooms and a kitchen
built in 1969; a baptistery installed in 1973; a handicap ramp built at the front entrance of the church in
1982; a new educational annex; and a new vestibule,
added to the front of the church in 1999. Recently a
Hispanic ministry has been started by the church
to serve the needs of the increasing Hispanic population in Owen Co. (see Latinos).
Mefford, Phyllis. “Centennial History of the Worthville
Baptist Church,” 1983, Worthville Baptist Church,
Worthville, Ky.
Worthville Baptist Church Minutes, Worthville Baptist Church, Worthville, Ky.

Ken Massey

WORTHVILLE HIGH SCHOOL. There were
subscription schools at Worthville in Carroll Co.
in 1906 and 1907, conducted by Professor Secretts
in the upstairs of a residence that during the 1930s
was owned by John Brock. In 1908 R. S. Tucker
also taught by subscription in that same building.
The Worthville community passed a bond issue
and opened the town’s first independent public
high school in 1911, apparently on grounds shared
with the subscription school. A new common
grade school opened in 1912 on property pur-

chased from J. R. Stout. Mr. Tucker, one of the new
common school’s first teachers, was musically inclined and started a tradition of presenting plays,
entertainments, and musical recitals at the new
school; he continued teaching there until 1916.
That year, Worthville High School graduated its
first student, Euclid Davis, and the trustees hired
John Hunt Jackson, a distinguished expert in classical literature. Hunt had a large library that later
was stolen while in storage in the high school’s bell
tower. A photograph from 1917 shows the Worthville High School being housed with the grade
school in a substantial two-story brick building,
with a full basement and front entrance portico.
Under the leadership of Professor Franks, domestic science and manual training were added to the
curriculum in 1917. A succession of one-year postings of school principals followed until Frank
Hood, with a BA degree from Kentucky State University, was hired. His assistant was Ruth Bet Coghill, who had a BA from Oxford College at Oxford,
Ga., and Worthville High School became accredited as a Class B school.
At the time, the Worthville High School PTA
was very active, purchasing 12 books for the library,
donating a drinking fountain, and providing an
acetylene light system for the entire school. When
the gym was added in 1924, only three feet of space
was left for spectators around the rim of the floor,
and each season the men and boys of the community had to erect a stage that took up one-third of
the total gym floor for any public school performances. In 1923 Worthville High School, with 32
students, was second-largest in the county, but by
1929 the school had grown only to 37 students. Professor Curtis E. Shirley, who later became Carroll
Co. superintendent of schools, had graduated from
Transylvania University at Lexington; he was principal of the Worthville grade school and the high
school from 1925 to 1930, when he was replaced by
A. B. Clayton. The per capita cost to educate students was $80 a year in 1925. By 1929 the laboratory
and machinery equipment was valued at $200, and
$15 was spent that year on maps, globes, and charts.
Even though so few students attended the high
school, its Worthville Pirates basketball team, on
November 17, 1938, under the direction of principal and coach Walter E. Cundiff, prevailed over the
Bulldogs from Bethany High School, a larger school,
by a score of 46 to 29.
Worthville High School’s students came from
the south-central portion of Carroll Co. The county
ultimately built four-year high schools at Worthville, at Ghent, and at Sanders. Carrollton city
schools also operated a four-year high school. There
were two-year high schools in the county at English
and Locust. During the 1930s, as the Great Depression impacted the available tax base, the county
high schools began consolidating. Worthville was
one of the last to retain its local high school, but in
1939 the school finally closed. The students went either to Carrollton High School or to Sanders High
School.
Bevarly, R. W. “History of Education in Carroll
County,” master’s thesis, Univ. of Kentucky, 1936.

WRIGHT, HORATIO G., MAJOR GENERAL (b. March 6, 1820, Clinton, Conn.; d. July 2,
1899, Washington, D.C.). Engineer-soldier Horatio Gouverneur Wright is the namesake of both
Fort Wright, the fort built in September 1862 to
block a Confederate advance on Cincinnati, and
the city of Fort Wright, which stands over that site.
In 1841 Wright graduated second in his class from
the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and
was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.
From 1846 to 1856, he supervised engineering
and building projects across Florida, including the
construction of Fort Jefferson. He served as assistant to the chief engineer of the U.S. Army from
1856 until the start of the Civil War. During the
war, he auspiciously led combat troops, starting as
chief engineer of a division at the first Battle of
Bull Run (1861). He progressed through numerous
commands, including the Army of Ohio and the
1st Division of the 6th Corps of the Army of the
Potomac. Wright played a pivotal role in repulsing
Confederate general Braxton Bragg’s 1862 invasion of Kentucky while Wright was in command of
the Army of Ohio.
General Wright was captured once and
wounded twice. He attained the rank of major general of volunteers and advanced to command the
famous 6th Army Corps, saving Washington,
D.C., from capture in 1864 and subsequently
spearheading the final assault on Petersburg, Va.,
and the pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee to Appomattox, Va., in 1865.
After his valiant ser vice in the war, Wright
held several commands and participated in many

Horatio Wright.

980 WXIX
significant engineering projects across the nation.
He was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army and appointed chief of engineers in 1879.
Wright retired in 1884 and was involved in many
prominent engineering projects, including New
York City’s Brooklyn Bridge. He also served as
chief engineer for the completion of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Wright died
in 1899, survived by his wife, Louisa, and two
daughters. He was buried in Arlington National
Cemetery in Virginia under an obelisk erected by
veterans of the 6th Corps.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Brigadier General
Horatio Gouverneur Wright.” www.hq.usace.army
.mil/history/coe2.htm (accessed July 9, 2006).
Wikipedia. “Horatio Wright.” www.wikipedia.com
(accessed July 9, 2006).

Dave Hatter

WXIX. WXIX-TV, also identified as FOX19, is the
FOX television network affi liate serving the
Cincinnati–Northern Kentucky region. This UHF
television station is licensed to the city of Newport,
but its broadcast facility is in Cincinnati. WXIX
was Cincinnati’s first independent commercial TV
station; it offered syndicated programs, classic
movies, and children’s shows long before the days
of cable television superstations.
James Lang, owner of Newport’s WNOP radio station, obtained the construction permit to
build WXIX in 1955. The site originally planned
for the station’s studio and tower was cleared and
graded in September 1954, on top of the hill where
the residential development known as Wiedemann Hill is today, in the Cote Brilliante area of
Newport. That facility was never built. The station
ownership transferred twice before the station actually went on the air in 1968 as WSCO, channel
19. Metromedia purchased the station in 1972 and
changed the call letters to WXIX, for the Roman
numerals for 19 (XIX). Malrite Communications
purchased WXIX in 1983. The station joined the
new FOX commercial network, as a charter affi liate, in the late 1980s. Channel 19 launched Cincinnati’s first local 10:00 p.m. evening news in
1993 and the area’s first all-local morning newscasts in 1997.
During its first decade on the air, WXIX featured locally produced television shows, including
the weekday children’s favorite Larry Smith’s
Puppets and the weekend late-night science fiction
movie program Scream-In, which featured host
Dick Von Hoene as the campy “Cool Ghoul.”
WXIX is currently owned by Raycom Media.
Nash, Francis M. Towers over Kentucky: A History
of Radio and Television in the Bluegrass State.
Lexington, Ky.: Host Communications, 1995.
Raycom Media. “WXIX–Cincinnati, Ohio.” www
.raycommedia.com/stations/wxix.htm (accessed
May 28, 2007).
Reis, Jim. “The TV Era Ushered in by Advertising,”
KP, June 21, 1993, 4K.

WYK (WICK), WALTER F. (b. December 4,
1889, Buffalo, N.Y.; d. February 28, 1969, Fort
Thomas, Ky.). Walter Wyk learned to box at an
early age and became a top performer in the boxing ring around Buffalo, N.Y., and in Northern
Kentucky, where he was known as the “Covington
Caveman.” He is considered one of the greatest pugilists ever to box in the region. Boxing as a lightweight, Walter Wyk reached the pinnacle of his
career just before World War I. Of his 182 bouts,
he won 98 by knockouts. He defeated many opponents who later went on to become world champions. His record indicates that he fought at the International Athletic Club in Buffalo at least five
times in 1911 and that as late as 1922 he fought in
Indianapolis, Ind., and Covington, Ky. He knocked
out Perry Nelson on July 26, 1922, in Covington at
the former Riverside Park (the old Federal League
Baseball Park) at Second and Scott Sts. Wyk lived
at various locations in Covington: in a room on
Court St., at 814 Scott St., and for many years at the
YMCA. After his boxing career ended, he worked
as a brakeman for the Pennsylvania Railroad,
holding that job until he retired. For many years he
continued to train boxers at a gymnasium in Morrow, Ohio.
After a long illness, Wyk died at St. Luke
Hospital in Fort Thomas, survived by his wife,
the former Mary Niedzielski, and four children.
He was buried at Mother of God Cemetery in
Latonia.
BoxRec. www.boxrec.com (accessed June 25, 2007).
“Brakeman Hurt,” KP, September 13, 1927, 1.
“Death Notice,” KE, March 2, 1969, 17E.
“Ohio River Is Richer by One $1200 Diamond,” KP,
July 16, 1927, 1.
Raver, Howard. “Walter K. Wyk, Former Boxer,” KP,
March 1, 1969, 3.
“Walter F. Wyk, 80, Railroader, Boxer,” KE, March 2,
1969, 5D.

WZIP. WZIP, the “Voice of Northern Kentucky,”
went on the air October 5, 1947. This was the first
Northern Kentucky broadcast station after WCKY
moved to Cincinnati in 1939. ZIP, as it was called,
had its offices and studios atop the building at the
southwest corner of 6th and Madison in Covington. Its tower still stands along I-75, near Goebel
Park.
The station began as a result of a year-long competition between two local groups to obtain a license that the Federal Communication Commission had made available in 1946. The winning
group, Northern Kentucky Airwaves, was made up
of Arthur Eilerman, Gregory Hughes, and Charles
Topmiller. The station’s frequency was set at 1050
kilocycles. It was a daytime station, with a 250-watt
power base.

Arthur and Carmen Eilerman in WZIP studio.

WZIP supported the local community through
innovative programming, including frequent interviews with community newsmakers, public officials,
educators, business leaders, and religious figures. It
featured local entertainers, sports teams, farm news,
civic groups and events, and man-on-the-street interviews. Among its on-air personalities was Ernie
Waites, Greater Cincinnati’s first black disc jockey.
Its local religious programming included a Saturday
morning show with a rabbi from the Temple of Israel (see Synagogues) on Scott St. in Covington.
Station president Eilerman was elected president of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association in
1957; he was the only Northern Kentuckian ever to
hold the post. His wife, Carmen, was a well-known
personality who served as announcer, interviewer,
and program director. Among her own shows, produced with studio audiences, were Carmen’s Corner, Bulletin Board, and Down Memory Lane.
The station was sold in 1957 to Leonard Goorian and Alfred Kratz of Cincinnati. They sold it in
1959 to a group headed by Edward Skotch, who
moved the offices to the Vernon Manor Hotel in
Cincinnati. Skotch’s group sold the station in 1960
to Carl, Robert, and Richard Lindner. After subsequent ownership changes, it operates today as
WTSJ, a talk and Christian music station.
Files of documents, letters, and photographs relating to WZIP radio station, Covington, Ky., 1947–
1956, Kenton Co. Public Library, Covington, Ky.
Microfi lm.
Nash, Francis M. Towers over Kentucky: A History
of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State. Lexington: Host Communications, 1995.
Reis, Jim. “The Voice of Northern Kentucky: WZIP
Served Six- County Area,” KP, October 21, 1996,
4K.